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A BORN NURSE 



By 


LUCILE YARBROUGH 











A BORN NURSE 


BY 

LUCILE YARBROUGH 




PRINTED BY 

THE J. W. BURKE COMPANY 
MACON, GEORGIA 




VZd 

. L 7//4I3 

Bo 

Cf jQy & 


COPYRIGHT 
19 5 0 

MRS. LOUISE LOCKHART 




48633 


OCT 16 1950 




DEDICATED 

-'I To 

~ My Husband 

and 

: ^ r Four Children 
With all my Love 


c 



"fl BORN NURSE" 

By Lucile Yarbrough 

PARTI 

“Jewel, today I will review the pages that time has writ¬ 
ten on my life, and at your request.” 

“Yes, Kassie. Please let us delve right into the story and 
don’t leave out one thing.” 

Kassie (being the short name for Katharine) began her 
story one sunny day in February, while sitting by the fire¬ 
side in her home, with her friend Jewel, the R.N. 

“There are five girls and one boy in my family. The girls’ 
names in order as to ages: Matt, Pat, Katharine, Fay and 
Kay. The only brother was named Ray. There was a twin 
sister. My twin. Lucy and I were born October io, 1910, 
on a little farm in Washington County, Georgia. She died, 
at the age of five months, with pneumonia. At such an 
early age to be separated it seems I should not feel such a 
loneliness for her as I really do.” 

Kassie continued: “My parents being of strict Christian 
faith reared their children to read the Bible, and to have 
prayer in the home each evening. We were an honest and 
humble family and proud to live in this beautiful State in 
the South, that does furnish so much material for writers. 
Should I say: ‘Writers’ Paradise’? Anyway, it seems that 
we have some of everything that is needed. Perhaps it is 
the blue skies, bright sunshine, or maybe it is the beautiful 
moon that shines down on us, that gets into the writer’s 
blood. Oh, sure, we have wealth, and poverty exists as in 
any other state. That is the one thing that will stay as 
long as the earth remains, I suppose. You realize that, be¬ 
ing a nurse, of course.” 

“Yes, I realize only too well the fact, Kassie. When was 
the first time you thought you wanted to take up the Nurs¬ 
ing profession?” 

“Jewel, even as a very small child, I believed that nursing 
was my destiny.” 


( 1 ) 


2 


A BORN NURSE 


“Well, I believe that people are born with talent for the 
different callings. In fact, I am interested in your case, be¬ 
cause of the many comments that the different patients have 
made concerning you. For instance, I have patients to tell 
me, . . . ‘Katharine is a born nurse . . . that your hands seem 
different. . . soothing, and you know how to calm and quiet 
the fears of the suffering.’ All these things have prompted 
me to want to hear your story. Oh! and Kassie, yesterday, 
while I was dressing four-o-nine’s broken arm, he said: 
‘Miss Jewel, see that Miss Gollyhorn doesn’t have to band¬ 
age my arm again. Honestly, she uses her hands as if she 
were plowing a mule on a hillside.’ I wanted to laugh, but 
he spoke so sincerely, I did not dare. Then he said, he honest¬ 
ly believed you were born to nurse. But here, go on with 
your story.” 

“At the beginning of one of the great conflicts, between 
the counties, there were large circulars distributed, calling 
for Red Cross nurses. As I sat on the steps of our country 
home, admiring the picture of the nurse, the cap, and the 
uniform, I was fascinated. Even the nurse’s oxfords were 
not overlooked. How I wanted to start to school, with my 
sisters, that I could hurry and be like the nurse on the 
circular I was holding! I had one more year to wait before 
I could start to school, and I would nurse my dolls, for 
patients. Oh! they made ideal patients, for we were very 
poor, and our dollys were rag dolls made from flour sacks 
stuffed with cotton, from our own fields. 

“Dolly was always getting a bursted arm or leg so that 
gave me something to work on as nursing practice. Then 
there was a huge chinaberry tree to pass the time for me, 
swinging in the rope-swing fastened to one of the great 
boughs of the tree, dreaming of the cap and uniform that 
I hoped to wear some day. 

“Eventually summer passed, and the crisp days of fall 
were a reminder that before very long Christmas would be 
here, with candy and fruit that was so appreciated, for we 
were taught the value of the nickel, in those days. 

“Father had bought a small farm of two hundred acres, 
and the money was carefully managed to care for the 


A BORN NURSE 


3 


family, and expenses on the farm. The children that were 
large enough to work, had long hours of work to do. There 
were stumps and grass to be cleared from the fields, during 
the fall and winter. Though there was the reward to look 
forward to, for our faithful struggle through the day, as 
we piled stumps, grass, and brush in long banks across the 
fields we had the privilege to set fire to them in the late 
evening, and the glow of the fire was a thrill and delight to 
us. Oh! we danced around in wild Indian fashion, yelling 
and whooping. 

“There was the task of splitting rails, to fence in the 
pasture land, for cattle and hogs. We had many other prob¬ 
lems too. 

“We had to share our home with a Grandmother, and 
an Aunt who were nice to us, but we were just average 
children, and we got into plenty of mischief, such as two or 
three of us girls climbing on the back of a horse for a horse¬ 
back ride to the fields, but I was usually pushed off over 
the rear end of the horse. Oh, seldom was I hurt but rather 
angry as I thought it a dirty trick ... we were always into 
something to get on Grandmother’s nerves. 

“I am getting a little ahead of myself, but I suppose as 
I go along with the story, that is going to happen more or 
less. I will go back to where I started to school. The morn¬ 
ing was here I had so anxiously awaited. Proud as a pea¬ 
cock, with my brand new dress, tablet, and pencil. My two 
older sisters and I started on the two-mile trip to the 
schoolhouse, on the sandy hill. We traveled through the 
fields, of shoulder-high grass, all wet with the morning dew. 
So you can imagine we did not look exactly like polished 
apples when we arrived there. Before we got to school that 
first morning, one of my sisters, that has always had plenty 
of life about her, decided on having some fun out of my 
first day of school. So my soul was filled with fear, that the 
teacher would whip any one for even moving around at the 
school desk or whispering to the girl that sat next to me. 
I started crying, for I was always squirming, and talking. 
My Mother often called me ‘Jessie’s little fice,’ referring 
to my forever bounding around, never quiet for a moment. 


4 


A BORN NURSE 


Well, the first day of school passed like an eternity, and 
the envisioned picture of the Red Cross nurse seemed far 
away. Oh! it took a long time to count to a hundred with¬ 
out making several mistakes, for I was so scared of the 
teacher I would forget the numbers, and finally I did re¬ 
ceive a smarting lick on the leg, with a measuring-rule, and 
it must have helped, for I got to doing my lessons better. 

“In the short years that followed, I completed the seventh 
grade. That was as far as the Hill school taught in classes. 
During these years, there was also strict teaching of the 
church, as well as in the home life. 

“Respect for the aged,—charity,—and lending a help¬ 
ing hand to the needy and the sick. That, too, was preached 
to us. For which I am now thankful for my strict parents, 
and the pastor of our little church. Every Sunday morning 
the team of horses was hitched to the wagon, and off to the 
church, in the grove of trees, we would go. 

“Kassie,” Jewel interrupted, “that is the same church we 
visited last spring, where we saw the old historic oak trees. 
They actually were so old, that enough soil, and decay of 
the tree provided enough nourishment, for what seemed to 
look like cultured beds of ferns growing on the boughs of 
the trees. What happened to the pictures we made that 
day? I suppose they were not good, is that it?” 

“You know, Jewel, I had forgotten those pictures. Here, 
let me get the album.” 

“Oh yes, Kassie, here are the two great spreading oaks 
and, I believe you told me, this one afforded the shade for 
all the picnic tables. Oh! I can just see all those people 
gathered for a picnic dinner, and the colored servants, under 
this other oak tree, taking care of the children, and the 
baskets of food, while the old-fashioned sing takes place. 
You know, Kassie, I feel a bit envious ... As you know I 
was born and reared in quite a large city and, in my younger 
days, I knew nothing of the freedom of the country life.” 

Kassie interrupted: “This picture of the inside of the 
church came out very good. The old church with the original 
eight-inch board ceiling, is over one hundred years old. 
Yes, quite a few years older. And Jewel, here is one of the 


A BORN NURSE 


5 


baptismal pool. Do you remember it?” 

“Yes, I do. In fact, I have envisioned it several times since 
then. I recall the queer feeling that came over me that day 
as we walked from the church, down the slope, through the 
grove of trees, and the worn path—worn by people from 
every walk of life; the young, and old people, the foolish, 
and very sincere ones. It seemed a place of sanctity. I gazed 
at the surroundings. The tall erect holly trees, pointing 
heavenward, and ages old . . . Everything so quiet, as we 
walked slowly down the slope, the only noise breaking the 
silence was the lonesome call of the whippoorwill to its 
mate, somewhere in the distant woodland. I can close my 
eyes, and imagine seeing the congregation gathering there 
on the slope of w T oodland, and the singing of the hymns, and 
then the administering of the sacred rites of baptism. Yes, 
there in the pool of water, from the clean, clear, cool 
spring that fed the pool not more than ten or twelve feet 
away. No room for contamination of the water before its 
use for the rites. 

“Yes, Jewel, I love to ponder over things of the past. 
Yes, there in the old church before the altar, where people 
acknowledged their wrongs, and were forgiven, or their 
names removed from the roll. I remember one character, 
they never decided if he were saint, or sinner. He was tried 
in one conference, thrown out, and restored to fellowship 
in another. Everything from being intoxicated, to profane 
language, and committing fornication. Really he must have 
been a problem child. I believe that it was in 1823, that the 
meetings were held under the brush arbor, before the church 
was built. This history goes back long before the conflict 
between the States. Slaves went to services with their mas¬ 
ters, here in this church house. 

“Kassie, this yellowed, aged-paper folded here . . . Oh! 
it is part of the first covenant of the church . . . says 1829: 
‘We being called, as we trust by the grace of God, do in the 
name of Jesus, voluntary, and jointly separate ourselves 
from the world, and give ourselves to the Lord. Who has 
promised to receive such, and be their God. Holding our¬ 
selves no longer our own . . . We also,’—well, this has 


6 


A BORN NURSE 


grown too dim to read. But living up to the covenant was 
quite strict.” 

“Yes, it really was,” Kassie replied. “But it also made 
one think before doing or saying evil things. Now here is 
another aged paper, it says: ‘Brother Fifkins was cited into 
conference, and charged with unchristian conduct. Investiga¬ 
tion showed that he stayed home and attended a barbecue, 
and disregarded the requirements of the church.’ . . . And 
here it says: ‘A black brother cited to conference for being 
intoxicated, and unruly at a horse race.’ And listen to this ! 
‘The black woman of Brother Sailings was charged with 
pilfering, and lying. After investigation proved they were 
living in adultry, a license was bought to marry them’.” 

Kassie continued: “Here it says: ‘In case of slave mem¬ 
bers being separated from their partners without their con¬ 
sent, we believe it to be our duty to such slave members to 
obtain consent from the church before they shall marry 
again.’ Here it says, ‘there were sixteen free people, and 
three slaves, to start this church’.” 

“Kassie, I am so excited. This is the first time I have had 
the privilege to hold in my hand such original records, of 
slave times . . . Oh! here’s one where the colors were 
separated. It says: ‘On motion resolved that the colored 
portion of the church be allowed to hold and manage a 
conference for themselves. Their proceedings be subject to 
the approval of the white conference. The word free, struck 
out and the word white put in place. Separation of color 
on May 12, 1866. Foot washing made an ordinance passed 
August 7, 1868.’ Now for the last notation. Oh, it is the 
resignation of—I can’t make out the name, but . . . ‘The 
clerkship made . . . (The date is obscure)—‘Dear Brother, 

I tender you the trust placed in me, and beg that you re¬ 
trieve it and let me drink in retirement. I have declined my 
office from a consideration known only to myself . . . Which 
me wants to be exempted from a duty, which I am so wholly 
inadequate to perform. Dear Brother pray for me’.” 

“Honestly cold chills are running up and down my spine. 
Here, Kassie, are two pictures—one of them is the mag- 


A BORN NURSE 


7 


nolia tree you told me about. A hundred years old or more 
—And it still blooms?” 

“Yes, and there were always a few of the blossoms on the 
magnolia tree, each spring throughout the year, while I 
was a child.” 

“Jewel, you haven’t seen this place as yet. When Sherman 
made his march through Georgia he and his men slept here 
in this house. My Great-grandmother was living in the house 
at the time, and the women folks were ordered by Sherman 
to prepare supper, and then the beds were taken over by 
them for the night. After breakfast was over for the sol¬ 
diers, the next morning Sherman thanked the family for the 
food, and shelter; and went on their way of destruction, 
leaving an old poor horse to die in the front yard. Never¬ 
theless, patience and care restored the poor starved animal 
to health, so that he was able to help till the soil. Just a 
short way from this house they burned a bridge . . . and 
right today some of the posts still stand, in connection with 
the building of the bridge.” 

Kassie continued: “On rainy days, my sisters and I would 
beg grandmother to tell us about Sherman, and his army. 
She was a young girl at the time of this war, and there were 
a host of sisters, and the youngest of the children were 
boys. She would tell how frightened they were when they 
saw the soldiers marching along, and the terrible tales, of 
destruction, and abuse, received by the victims of the 
soldiers. But they left without molesting the family what¬ 
soever. Some of the men wrote names on the walls of the 
house, I presume they were their own names. Somewhere 
in the army was the sixteen-year-old sweetheart of this 
young girl, and they married after the war was ended. You 
know this old album is a story within itself. I suppose I 
should take better care of it . . . Well, getting back to the 
other part of the story,” Kassie said, as she closed the 
album with affection and placed it in its place on a table. 
“Clothing us girls for school were problems, too, for the 
oldest sister was stout, the second oldest slender, I was 
slender, and the fourth one stout. So you see, the older 
ones were the receivers of new clothes and the younger 


8 


A BORN NURSE 


sister and I caught the hand-me-downs. As I have said be¬ 
fore, we were very poor, but my parents did not intend to 
stay that way, for the simple reason of spending everything 
on clothes that we did not really need. Oh! to be sure, sis 
and I thought we were being terribly mistreated. Altho in 
one instance, I remember there were two dresses we were 
glad to get. Mine was a blue and white and Fay’s was pink 
and white batiste. Oh! they were all stitched up . . . bolero 
jackets, and white lace, . . . such elegance. We were glad 
when they were handed down to us for now we felt very 
grown up. And in that same year we were considered old 
enough to drink iced tea! 

“Oh, Gee, you know Kassie, those were the days, mark¬ 
ing progress of growing by privileges afforded. 

“Yes, indeed. All the family were served meals, and 
afterwards, the colored help was given food and, some¬ 
times the precious tea, was afforded for them also. 

“And, Jewel! I shall never forget the first airplane that 
came over our house, like a huge bird, up so high. It caused 
a commotion, nothing short of the atomic bomb. All us girls 
getting in each other’s way, and running in and out of the 
house, all trying to talk at the same time, yelling to our 
Grandmother to run and see the airplane. I suppose it sound¬ 
ed more or less like a bunch of excited geese jabbering. It 
was the rest hour for Grandmother and naturally lightly 
sleeping we just about frightened the dear old lady out of 
her mind. Anyway, we succeeded in our mission.” 

“Oh dear, I can just imagine a scene, such as that one,” 
Jewel said, as she joined in a hearty laugh with Kassie. 

Kassie continued her story: “Summer was coming to a 
close, and there were fields of corn to be stripped of fodder. 
At this time of year the sun is truly hot, and the corn leaves 
very dry and difficult to handle, because of the tendency to 
cut the flesh. All the family and hired help worked in 
the fields stripping the leaves from the stalks during the 
day, and after the dew dampened the fodder in the evening, 
we went along tying the bundles by the beautiful moonlight 
. . . Then there was the task of carrying it to storage for 
feed during the winter for the livestock. 


A BORN NURSE 


9 


“Colored help was plentiful, up to this time, as the negro 
family of tenants living on the farm had lost only one or 
two youths to the service. The time soon came that they 
were drifting into the service by draft and volunteer . . . 
leaving their portion of work to fall on us girls. One day I 
well recollect. The father of this bunch of negro youths 
came to the house carrying a letter, and looking very de¬ 
pressed. For some reason he was called Sun. It might have 
been because of the large gold tooth prominently displayed 
in the front of his mouth, and it seemed he tried to show 
it by opening his mouth very wide when he laughed. Well, 
he handed father the letter, and said: ‘Boss man, does dis 
letta hab sompin to do ’bout me gwine to de wah?’ And 
after Father examined the contents of the letter, he replied, 
‘Yes, and within the next few days, you will be going into 
the service.’ 

“ ‘Oh! Lawd, boss man, Ise jes can’t go.’ And his eyes 
seemed to be growing larger and larger as he thought of 
the war. Father told him that, from the looks of the letter, 
he would not have any choice, or else they would come for 
him. Well, he stood there fidgetly standing on one foot 
then the other, he said: ‘I sho hab got troubles, Mista Hill, 
there’s mer wife to leb behind, and lawdy knows, does you 
all thing I can leb her here close to de white folks, while I 
is away? Meby I jes won’t nebber come back no mo.’ 

“Father assured him that she could continue to live in the 
same tenant house as had been theirs to live in while on the 
farm. The negro was shaking his head and saying: ‘Lawdy 
dat sho do take a load offen mer mind. Knowin’ she gwine 
to hab somepin’ to eat and a roof overn her haid. Sho do 
thank you all. I spose I betta get a few things together, that 
I will be needin’, and be ready to go.’ After taking a few 
steps toward the yard gate, he stopped and scratched his 
head again, and came back saying: ‘Mista Hill, sho breaks 
my heart, thinkin’ of lebin old Shep. He sho been a good old 
dog. Does you all spose he could jes sort of stay around 
here? Meybe de chillun would like to keep him.’ 

“ ‘Oh, sure, just leave him here, he probably will earn his 
keep,’ my Father said. And Shep certainly proved his worth 


10 


A BORN NURSE 


many time, as there were always varmits to bother things 
on a farm. 

“Now, all the colored help was gone, except the one 
woman, and she stayed a lot of the time with her relatives, 
across the creek from home. And on a farm that kind of 
help was very essential, as there were the cotton crops to 
be tended . . . Have you ever tried picking cotton, Jewel? 

“No, we do not grow cotton, in my part of the country.” 

“You should try picking some, really you have missed 
something. 

“Please excuse me, to answer the knock on the door. It 
was the postman, with a registered letter to Khase.” 

“If you are through teasing me about picking cotton, tell 
me what happened next.” 

“Well, the oncoming winter brought the dreaded in¬ 
fluenza epidemic . . . people dying, some sick and helpless. 
At home the entire family was abed, ill with it; except 
Grandmother and me. Well, she agreed to cook for the fam¬ 
ily, and isolate herself from the rest of us, and I was to 
pick up the food at the door and distribute it to the ill 
family. She was scared of the influenza, and I had my first 
-experience of real nursing . . . Castor oil, and orange juice. 
Castor oil and more orange juice. On around to all of the 
sick. This went on for days, and weeks. But I was nursing 
and did not mind at all. 

“Cooking was a problem, for there was just so much 
sugar that could be purchased, in a month’s time, as well as 
flour ... we mixed half and half flour and meal for making 
biscuits. And there were many ways we skimped to get 
along during those days. During the winter Father bought 
a sawmill to saw the lumber for a new country home. Oh! 
it was to be a beauty, we were so proud of our progress, 
altho the work on the house had to be stopped, as prices 
went skyrocketing on everything and it was after the war 
before the house was finished. 

“As I said before, we girls were mischievous and many 
Sundays we played on the sawdust piles, tumbling and jump¬ 
ing in the wood wastage. And we would tease the geese, 
and they would chase us, blowing like vipers. Most 


A BORN NURSE 


11 


of the time we would outrun them. One Christmas, I re¬ 
member a funny little incident. I told you before how my 
younger sister and I thought we were kinda left out by 
having to wear hand-me-down clothing, outgrown by the 
older girls. Well, this particular Christmas, for some reason 
I don’t remember just why, Santa Claus brought the two 
older girls very beautiful dolls. They were dressed in lovely 
blue and pink dresses. One boasted pretty black hair, and 
the other one was blond. When Fay and I got ours, we felt 
that we were two little girls not wanted. 

The two very cheap ones, cloth bodies and china heads, 
arms, and legs. We cried, and cried some more, and Mother 
and Father trying to console us by saying that we would 
get a nice one next time, and to come on in to breakfast. 
We laid the dolls on the bed, and went to the morning meal, 
and when we came back to weep over the trick that Santa 
had pulled on us, they were gone! Of course, a search was 
started, and while we were dining, Father’s old black hound 
dog had dragged them outside, and had torn the cloth 
bodies to pieces, and there on the ground lay the poor little 
china heads, arms, and legs strewn over the yard . . . How 
our hearts ached again . . . For now we realized we did want 
them . . . After all they were ours, to care for; we wept 
some more, and lived in hopes of a doll that would cry, 
and go to sleep.” 

“I must say, that must have been quite a Christmas day, 
Kassie.” 

“Indeed it was,” Kassie replied. 

Kassie continued: “Through the spring and summer 
of that year, we worked like Trojans, seeding fields of cot¬ 
ton, and then the early job of chopping row after row, oh, a 
fellow felt that this had no end to it, just go on forever. 
Then the cotton picking ... Fay and I carried flour sacks 
to put our cotton in, and we picked the rows together— 
sometimes we had to back track, when Father saw us leave 
a cow-lick. A cow-lick, in a cotton field, is where some of 
the cotton is left in the bowls, we had to pick it clean. Cot¬ 
ton brought a good price, and we were rewarded . . . for 
on one of the trips to the market, to sell the cotton, 


12 


A BORN NURSE 


Father bought a brand new buggy. Oh, it cost one hun¬ 
dred and nineteen dollars. Gee! we felt wealthy as we went 
racing down the road to meet Father in the new buggy . . . 
all five of us girls, some in the seat with Father, and some 
rode in the foot of the buggy, and it fell to the lot of Fay 
and myself to ride in the back . . . Anyway a new buggy was 
grand to have ... And our very own. 

“Kid like, we children laid claim to certain of the pigs to 
care for, and the one I picked was a white one, and Fay’s 
was black and white. Well, it happened they were among 
the chosen ones to be penned up and fattened for meat and 
lard, for the family use, so we thought we were being mis¬ 
treated again.” 

“Yes, I suppose you did,” Jewel said. 

“There had been a great crop of corn gathered into the 
cribs, and fodder into the loft. A pair of mules was stabled 
at one side of the crib, and the new buggy, and a model T 
Ford under shelter at the opposite side of the crib—the 
model T belonged to the negro that had previously gone 
into the service . . . Well, when he came back he took the 
bonus money he received and bought this car. Anyway, the 
crib caught on fire, at about one or two o’clock in the morn¬ 
ing. We were out running around in our night gowns. 
Father was trying to chase the mules out of the burning 
shelters, and the burning fodder had fallen on their backs, 
and they were so frightened they turned on Father and 
chased him out of the lot. . . though eventually he succeeded 
in saving them. But our beautiful new buggy was burned 
up. Father saved the fattening hogs, by pulling off boards 
from the pens and driving them to safety. Old Sun came 
running up in time to push the model T from the shelter as 
the top of it caved in. People threw water on the top of the 
house to keep it from burning. And Grandmother came run¬ 
ning from her house, all out of breath, thinking we were 
being burned up. 

“For weeks the backs of the mules were doctored with 
peroxide, and covered with bed sheets; they looked a sight. 

“Father had planned to carry the family for a visit with 
one of his brothers, in a little town here in Georgia. But a 


A BORN NURSE 


13 


new way of transportation would have to be found, since 
the buggy had been burned. Well, Father made arrange¬ 
ments with old Sun to carry us in the Model T Ford. Oh! 
we were a bunch of excited youngsters, never realizing dan¬ 
ger—for the darkey did not know very much about driving 
his newly acquired automobile. 

“That night, while driving, the lights died out for some 
reason, and the trip was continued by lantern light. How¬ 
ever, we arrived at our destination, with all our bones still 
intact. Though one time on our way back home the driver 
went off the road, and out across a field, but nevertheless 
a good sized stump blocked our way. Then, of course, all 
of us had to climb out and help push the Ford back off the 
stump, so we could get started on the right way again. And 
during all the time of this trip the negro was relating excit¬ 
ing tales of his voyage across the sea. We were very inter¬ 
ested in the tales told of the mermaids. He would say: 
‘Lawdy, chillun, Ise jes’ wish you all coulda seed dem mer¬ 
maids, cornin’ up outin’ de middle of de ocean; dey sho was 
purty; dey had long, wavy black hair. But dey also was de 
wornin’ ob sompin bad ... we jes knowed a bad sto’m was 
in de brewin’, ebber time we seed dem’.” 

“Well, we kids thought it all true, as we had seen pic¬ 
tures of the mermaids on oyster cans, and for all the thou¬ 
sands of questions we asked him concerning the beautiful 
mermaids, there was a ready answ T er ... so their existence 
was a reality to us. 

“Quite an exciting trip. Kassie, I presume you were still 
going to the Hill school? What kind of recreation did this 
little school afford for the children—you spoke of it being 
small—one room, I believe.” 

“One of the chief things was the merry-go-round. Some 
of us older children, and our very helpful teacher, cut down 
a large tree about two feet above the ground, and attached 
a long plank to the top of this stump, and we would take 
turns, a few children riding on the merry-go-round, and 
others pushing; we really had plenty of exercise. Then 
there were playhouses made under the shade trees, and on 
Friday afternoons our thoughtful teacher went with us for 


14 


A BORN NURSE 


a stroll through the woodland. Sometimes we gathered wild 
flowers, and there was a nice place to fish, while the younger 
children made a place to slide on the pine needles. The oil 
in the needles wear the bottoms of shoes very slick, so they 
would have quite a nice time. Most of the children were 
very healthy—plenty of fresh air, and exercise. Jewel, one 
thing I well remember, while I went to this school: the 
oldest girls carried water for all the school, from some of 
the farm houses. And it was my year to help carry the 
water. Another girl and I would carry a long stick on which 
to place the pails of water, as we could carry more this 
way. Anyway, we had to pass by a negro house where there 
was a gang of little negro children; there was one that 
would always be sitting on the porch of this house. It was 
small, and I would be so sorry for it trying to eat; all the 
rest of the family would be in the kitchen, eating at the 
table, but this one was alone on the porch, with a bowl of 
milk. It did not know how to use a spoon, so it just dragged 
its hands through the milk and licked it from them, and I 
just could not understand why, so I asked a girl, that had 
learned about the mysteries of life at an earlier age than I. 
So she told me it was because the small nigger was a little 
bastard. Well, I presumed that was some kind of a disease, 
but still I wanted some one to feed the poor starving negro 
child . . . Oh, I went home telling my mother that I wanted 
to bring ‘the little bastard negro’ home with me; that it 
was sick and I wanted to nurse it.” 

“Oh, no, Kassie! What did your mother say to that?” 

“Mother was probably so shocked I suppose it was diffi¬ 
cult for her to think of anything to say, though neverthe¬ 
less, she did say: ‘Child! you can’t raise a little negro child.’ 

I argued that it would starve. Naturally, I did not win. I 
suppose that sympathy will always rule my heart, and I 
am not sorry of it, although it makes life rather difficult 
for me at times; as you know, there are so many people 
who do not realize how nursing and sympathy and the love 
for trying to help suffering humanity are pressed into the 
same heart. Oh, another incident that happened while I 
went to this school was when the girls began to think of a 


A BORN NURSE 


15 


certain boy there as being somewhat of a sweetheart. I am 
most sure that is the way of all the world, whether it be a 
large school or a small one. Anyway, there was a legend 
handed down for generations, among the young girls, that 
on May 16, at noon hour, twelve o’clock, to carry a mirror 
to a well of water, the young lady to lean backward over 
the well, and looking into the mirror her supposedly future 
husband would be revealed in it, but if an old maid was to 
be her lot, a casket would be seen in the mirror.” 

“I suppose you did not miss out on this either. What did 
you see?” 

“Oh! I drew a gray mule, and a boy with a large straw 
hat. And, Jewel, before you start teasing, I will beat you to 
the draw, and assure you, I married the boy with the large 
straw hat. Now that I have fully explained that—” 

Jewel interrupted: “I can say, that I have heard of 
foolish girls setting dumb suppers—” 

“Now, Jewel, just who were these foolish young girls? 
Come, come; go ahead and tell me about yourself and this 
dumb supper, for I am sure you can tell about it.” 

“Well, Kassie, since you are trying to twist my arm, I 
will tell this, for it was rather frightening, and funny after 
it was all over. There were six of us girls that were going 
to share this secret, and set a dumb supper. Although we 
did not believe it, we were curious about the many tales 
we had heard of young girls seeing their future husbands, 
and if they were to be old maids, a casket came floating in 
and placed itself in the chair beside the girl. The six of us 
started at six o’clock prompt in the evening. We were sup¬ 
posed to keep mum because it would not work if we broke 
the silence by talking. Everything we were supposed to do, 
we had to go at it backwards. We made a large pot of cof¬ 
fee, we poured in the water, and the coffee with our hands 
behind us, while some of the girls fired the range stove, 
placing the wood in with their hands behind them. The eggs 
were fried in the same backward manner. All was going 
fine until on the dot, twelve o’clock, and during this time 
the front door of the house was to be kept open, you know, 
to enable the spirit of the future husbands to enter. 


16 


A BORN NURSE 


“As the clock on the mantel was striking twelve, we heard 
a thumping noise in the hall and, of course, all of us were 
getting rather scared by this time, especially because of the 
mission we were on. We all gathered in a huddle at the 
sound of the noise, and when the hall door opened and a 
bunch of young men came stamping into the room, walking 
backwards, was just too much for us.” 

“Yes, I would think so; and then what happened?” 

“To make a long story short, those that were able to 
run left the ones who were not able to do so. We ran up¬ 
stairs to where Mother was sleeping. She aroused Father, 
but the intruders had left when we got back to the dining 
room. One of the girls had got tangled with a chair, and I 
suppose she must have knocked herself out when she hit 
the floor. Another just fainted.” 

“Of course they were real boys, but how did they know 
the girls were having this dumb supper, Jewel?” 

“One of the girl’s brother found out about it. Oh, he 
was rather devilish—about eighteen months younger than 
his sister, and delighted in teasing her, always scheming 
to find out where she was going, and when; usually he was 
already at her place of destination when she arrived. Not 
that he was mean, but just to tease. He had eavesdropped 
a conversation between Ann and her Mother about the sup¬ 
per. Six youngsters wrapped in white bed sheets, walking 
backwards into the room at the exact hour of midnight, was 
more than we bargained for; in fact, none of us believed 
anything would happen. The girls were spending the night 
with me, and we thought it would be a lot of fun.” 

“Jewel, I can just imagine he was freckled, red haired, 
husky, good natured, and his name was Tom?” 

“Your guess is right, except his name is Howard, Kassie. 
He grew up to be a mighty fine fellow, and he married the 
girl that got entangled with the chair, at the dumb supper.” 

“No!” Kassie exclaimed. 

“Yes, he did. Here, you get on with your story, I came 
to hear * 7 .” 

“Jewel, children certainly can get into plenty of mischief. 
I recollect the first whipping I received from my Father. 


A BORN NURSE 


17 


Our new house was just about completed, and we carried a 
lot of clothes to be ironed. We went over to the new home 
to iron them, heating the irons by the fire in the large fire¬ 
places. My job was to keep the fire just right to heat the 
irons. Grandmother was overseeing us at this time, as our 
only brother had arrived in the world to live with us. We 
were very proud of brother Ray, but still we had our dis¬ 
putes among the girls over the work to be done. Matt and 
Pat were ironing and passing words ever so often as was 
convenient. I was not going to be left out of the argument. 
As the ironing progressed, Matt would leave Grandmother’s 
large aprons, dresses, and skirts to Pat to iron. So the argu¬ 
ment began to get rather warm, and Pat said: ‘Matt, Grand¬ 
mother gives you everything—always giving you money, 
so you can just do her ironing; she never gives the rest of 
us anything.’ I chimed in that she was right . . . ‘Let Matt 
do them, Pat; she gets everything! I just would not iron 
them.’ We thought Matt was a tattle-tale, for she told 
Grandmother what we had said about her. She being old 
and childish felt terribly abused, and carried the argument 
to Mother who was not physically able to listen to such 
nonsense, she asking Father to straighten it all out for us. 

“The next morning, as the five girls completed dressing 
before the comfortable fire in the open fireplace, Father 
came into the room. We knew when he entered and saw 
the handful of peach-tree switches, that we were in for a 
whipping. I was first. I think the number of limbs were 
equally divided between Pat and me, and we received quite 
a thrashing. Matt did not get the first lick. We were so 
angry with her, w T e would have liked to have started an¬ 
other argument right away but, knowing what might hap¬ 
pen, we let the matter drop after pouting for a few days. 

“After the new baby was a month old, we moved into 
the new house. I carried the baby, and the family with the 
other help moved the furnishings from one house to the 
other, as the new house was built close to the old one in the 
grove of mulberry trees. Oh, the freedom of plenty of 
room for the family! A spacious old fashioned hallway and 
wide porches, added grace to the house. We were very 


18 


A BORN NURSE 


happy. Our patience at waiting was well rewarded. From 
the back porch of the house we could see the reflections of 
the electric lighting of one of our leading cities, here in 
middle Georgia. 

“I well remember when our cousin, with pretty brown 
eyes and black hair, came home from the army he would 
sit there on the back porch and tell us fascinating stories 
that happened overseas; one evening as we sat there listen¬ 
ing to him he said, ‘You know, Uncle Hill, I have got the 
dad-blamest hot weather heat: it has broken out all over 
my legs, and troubles me until I can hardly sleep at night.’ 
He doctored it with heat powders, and such things as we 
could think of that might bring about a cure. We kept a 
huge basin sitting on the back porch, for bathing our feet, 
and of course our cousin, Jack, bathed his feet in the basin, 
too, and before many days Father’s feet broke out ‘with 
the dad-blamed heat.’ Well, he was not going to stay awake 
nights with the heat, so he went to the family doctor 

“ ‘Well! Well! Well!’ He said, ‘Heat nothing; you have 
the seven years’ itch.’ Vaseline and carbolic acid were tried, 
but Father could not stand that. Yes, within a very few 
days all the family had the seven years’ itch. We purchased 
some medicine, a product that had some sulphur in it, and 
an odor equal to a lot of spoiled eggs, that had to be ap¬ 
plied every night, for several nights with the happy result 
that the seven years’ itch had its life shortened by six years, 
several months, and a few days; but it really was popular 
while we had it, for it claimed all our attention. Remarks 
were made to the effect that we should have been sus¬ 
picious of the ‘heat’ at that time of the year. I do not over¬ 
look any kind of rash at any time of the year.” 

“No, I would think not. That was bad,” Jewel said. 

“Yes, it was bad. But Jack was innocent of the fact, and 
therefore we could hardly express our thoughts in words. 
Jack was very sorry over the whole affair. Please excuse me 
just a moment—‘Yes, Hattie, what is the trouble?’ Kassie 
asked the maid. 

“ ‘Miz Kassie, guess you all bettah come into the kitchen 


A BORN NURSE 


19 


foah jes a minute. I sho can’t find de lamb chops, dey done 
got lost in de friger rater.’ 

“Hattie, here they are in plain view. Now do your very 
best in the art of preparing them, and try to have lunch at 
twelve o’clock sharp—and be sure to crisp the celery.” 

“ ‘Yesm, Miz Kassie, sho will.’ 

“Well, that is over. Hattie is so forgetful but she is a fine 
cook,” Kassie remarked to Jewel, as she sat down again. 

Jewel said: “Kassie, time is quickly passing and we have 
barely scratched the surface of the story. I almost regret 
the slightest interruptions. Please forgive me, I do not mean 
to complain.” 

“Sure, Jewel, I understand. We only have the day off 
from hospital duty with the same hours. 

“I will continue by stating that another year had spun 
into eternity, and the spring of another year was here again. 
We must work untiringly, breaking of the soil and the seed¬ 
ing of the crops to be done again; we must keep the cotton- 
planters going, and handling fertilizer . . . that was a mean 
job. Then I remember the dresses that had to have two 
pockets, one on the right for carrying corn seed, and one 
on the left for velvet beans, going down the rows, plant¬ 
ing and back in another one, it seemed there was not an end 
to it. However, my sisters and I got big-hearted ever so 
often, and suggested to Father to let us plow while he went 
fishing. We kept a trap for catching fish, and too, Father 
was quite a good fisherman. We made sure that he carried 
plenty of different kinds of fish bait. We dug the worms, and 
seined the minnows from the brook. How we enjoyed mud¬ 
dying the water in the brook by wading and damming up 
the water; the minnows would get sick in the muddy water 
and come to the top, so we would be ready to get them. 
Father usually came in with from fifty to seventy-five nice 
fish. And of course that meant a wonderful fish supper, 
which was enjoyed very much. It was my task after supper 
to see that Father’s bath water was made ready for him. 

“There was the chore of driving the cows to and from 
the pastures. Sometimes we would get careless and let the 
ropes get stolen which were used to lead the cows or drive 


20 


A BORN NURSE 


them. But when they were stolen we had to drive them by 
their tails. Sometimes on Fridays or Saturdays we lingered 
to pick flowers in the woodlands. Oh, there were violets, 
wild phlox. Sometimes on Saturdays, we went fishing, and 
also gathered flowers—mountain laurel, honeysuckle, sweet 
shrub . . . Easter lilies, ‘grandson grey beard’. We needed 
them all to decorate the house for Sunday. Usually there 
was company for the day. Many young people visited us 
on Sundays. 

“In fall of this year that I am speaking of, progress w^as 
made to the extent that Father was able to keep a wage- 
hand to haul lumber, and that meant extra money made 
for the family. Father was ever on the alert to earn addi¬ 
tional money, and the greater portion of the time he made 
a profit, even though it was a small amount at times. The 
wage-hand helped out with the chores and after feeding the 
stock we would persuade him to give us children a ride in 
the wheelbarrow around the house. 

Our cousin, Jack, had asked Father to let him farm with 
him, and was having quite a time of it, for he did not have 
any help and the grass was getting such a start in his cotton 
fields that it was a sad sight to look upon. So you might 
guess what did happen: Yes, Father told him that some of 
the children might help to straighten out the fields again. 
And, of course, Fay and I were the elected ones to do the 
helping. There in that great stretch of red clay, though fer¬ 
tile land, the cotton was growing but the great clumps of 
grass was growing so much the faster and Jack worked very 
untiringly plowing the middle, between the rows of cotton. 
The sun beamed down on us. The closer to the branch of 
water we worked, the worse the gnats, yellow-flies, and most 
every kind of fly, that could bite and torture. Poor Fay 
would cry; and it was indeed something to cry for. We 
would pick up a clod of soil and grass and -whip it against 
our legs, the dirt helping to keep the gnats and flies from 
pestering us so badly. Oh, we thought he was treating us 
mean, for we had to keep working until very nearly dark. 
The Red Field, as we named it, was a long distance from 
the house, and the only thing nice about working it was the 


A BORN NURSE 


21 


horseback ride we had to and from the field. Old Nell was 
a gentle horse and seemed to have plenty of sense. She 
would hold her head low so we could bridle her—she was 
the horse I told you about. But there came a day when Nell 
was sold: she brought the handsome sum of forty dollars! 
Matt and Pat received a beautiful dress with a portion of 
the money from the sale. Oh, they were very sheer silk— 
lavender, and pink—made with capes . . . Yes, that time we 
younger girls were given a dress. But, of course, according 
to age, we received cheaper ones, old rose stripe, and blue 
chambray. The material was thick, and just would not ever 
wear out; then there was the ungodly high-topped shoes, 
and black ribbed stockings—how I hated them! but hating 
did not help, for the consolation we received was: ‘You 
should be proud to get them.’ And rightly so, I suppose, 
for the practice of thrift has provided for my parents in 
their old age.There are so many old people who have not 
been as fortunate. I worry about old people who do not 
have any place to go and, in numerous cases, are not wanted, 
or they inconvenience the young folks. And true enough: 
all ages do need recreation, and relaxation. Jewel, if only 
the Lord will bless the plans which I have tirelessly tried 
to carry out there will be a home for which I so dearly wish 
where I can care for invalids, and also a homey place where 
old people may stay while the other members might have 
a carefree vacation. It is only natural for members of fam¬ 
ilies to frequently get on each other’s nerves, especially 
when the younger ones want to have visits from their lively 
friends, but noise must be kept at a minimum, and complete 
silence is demanded sometimes. I have experienced some of 
these cases, and I will tell you of a few later on in the story.” 

“Kassie, did you try any cooking when you were very 
young?” 

“Yes, the first cooking I ever attempted was trying to fix 
the morning meal. Mother had been called away to help a 
friend in a delivery case, and did not get home by the time 
Father wanted his breakfast, about three o’clock in the 
morning; he called Fay and me. He wanted to go fishing, 
wishing to get an early start. I was to make biscuits, and 


22 


A BORN NURSE 


Fay was to slice the meat, and make a bowl of ham gravy. 
Both of us were to prepare the table. When all was in readi¬ 
ness, Father was called to breakfast. The biscuits I had 
struggled to make were hard, and cracked open. Fay had 
sliced the meat the wrong way, and it was tough. The gravy 
was thick enough to slice with a knife, but thank goodness 
there was plenty of butter, jelly, and such. I was twelve 
years old at that time, and should have known how to pre¬ 
pare a meal—that is, a simple one. But I would much rather 
be nursing. I always had patients, whether they were pigs, 
calves, or little chicks. One day my favorite Uncle came by 
our house and brought two little red pigs. Their mother 
had more of them than she could feed, so I did my best to 
feed them but they were too near death to save them, so 
we girls conducted a funeral for them. Oh, that was just 
two then, but I was forever the receiver of the runt pigs. 

“My Mother asked me to kill a small chicken that had 
broken a leg. I complained. Oh, no I just could not. But she 
said it must be killed, for the bone was completely through 
the skin. Instead of killing it I got the axe, cut a splint, and 
fixed bandages. I was so proud of the job I did on that 
broken leg. It healed very quickly! And I would day-dream 
of the time when I could help suffering humanity that could 
not help themselves. 

“I raised one pretty pig, which became such a pet, that 
she followed me almost every place; on coming home from 
school she would be in the path to meet me. I suppose I 
would have let her into the house if Mother would have 
let me. As I look back on those days I realize the pig must 
have been quite a pest, for when I went into the house she 
lay down as close to it as possible. But nevertheless she was 
my pet. Then one day I came home from school, there was 
no pet to meet me. I called, and looked for her, while every¬ 
one of the family acted as if there was a great secret. Well, 
at the supper table I discovered there was no longer a 
secret, for there gracing the table were delicious parts of 
my pet pig! 

“Of course, I knew I could not keep the pet forever, but 
then I just could not see it that way; I almost swam in my 


A BORN NURSE 


23 


own tears, while my stomach felt as if it was doing somer¬ 
saults when I thought of eating any of the meat, so Mother 
mixed all the meat to prevent me from knowing when part 
of my pet was being cooked . . . After that I never claimed 
any of the creatures for pets; yet if there were any to care 
for I nursed them but when they were fat enough, they 
must be killed in that last cold snap of March. How I did 
despise that time! 

“One afternoon, I well remember, Fay, Kay and I went 
by the kitchen and got a large baked poato, a chunk of pork 
backbone, and started on the errand of bringing in the cows 
for milking. We kept a bunch of buggy-wheel rims, and 
rolled them for hoops, with a paddle. It made work seem 
more like play. On this special afternoon, two twin colored 
girls met up with us going for their cows, and all of us 
rolling hoops. Oh, we were having a wonderful time. But 
when we arrived in the woodland, we got lost looking for 
our cows, for they had strayed from the pasture; we found 
them with another herd of cattle. We eventually got our 
stock separated from the others and they had sense enough 
to know the way home. But it was through the thickest 
places in the woods, and as Kay was small, we would have 
to wait for her to get over the bad places. We thought that 
was quite a nuisance because there were all the hoops to be 
put together and carried, while in the distance we could 
hear a bull bellowing, and coming nearer and nearer. Poor 
Kay was holding up the crowd by getting entangled in bam¬ 
boo, or saw-briars as they are often called. The bellowing 
of the bull was getting too close for comfort, and we had 
quite a stretch of land to cover before we could yell loud 
enough to summon help if the beast caught up with us 
Nevertheless, with added effort we got home safely. But 
the cows had been run so fast that they were either tired, or 
angry, and did not give very much milk that night.” 

“Quite an experience,” Jewel said. 

“Oh, Kassie, did you grow peanuts on this farm? I 
understand that peanuts are quite a valuable crop in this 
state.” 

“Yes, peanuts are grown on the farm for several reasons. 


24 


A BORN NURSE 


For sale, is the chief reason of course. Then many fields of 
them are grown for fattening swine; you see, a drove of 
swine can practically feed themselves when turned onto a 
field of peanuts; and too, the vines make hay, for stock 
feed. And last but not least, a good old Georgia farm just 
would not be a farm without them. Oh, we always had a lot 
of fun at the time of year when we could boil peanuts. That 
took place before becoming seasoned. Many young people 
gathered at our house for this little ceremony. Still there 
were the thorns: Planting, and it seemed that every Satur¬ 
day during the weeding season Fay and I were doomed to 
running the weeder through the peanuts. We would hitch 
a big black horse to the weeder and every time we hit a 
stump the rascal would stop. Fay and I would count three, 
and both of us lift the weeder over the stump. And off we 
would go again until the same operation had to be repeated. 
Then the harvesting. They were plowed up, and it really 
was hard work—well, I mean very tiring, as there was a 
lot of back-bending. Picking up the large bunches of pea¬ 
nuts, and shaking off the surplus soil, or all that could be 
shaken off, and the task of carrying them to the frames and 
poles provided, which were an even distance apart. When 
the stack was completed, it must resemble a funnel. Being 
large at the bottom of the frame, and small at the top; of 
course, it was stacked in order to let the air circulate 
through it.” 

“And what would happen if they were not coddled so 
much ?” 

“Jewel, I suppose it does sound like a lot of unnecessary 
work. But they, that is the peanuts, would start sprouting 
and rotting, and certainly be ruined. 

“Here is something I bet that you have never heard of. 
But to tell you first: Grandmother Jones and Grandmother 
Beck had moved out to a place—just the two old ladies, 
and on the farm were a lot of fruit trees, including apple 
trees, that bore apples by the bushel; and, naturally, gather¬ 
ing apples was considered children’s work, of which I did 
my share. But most of the time the grandmothers could get 
the work out of us; anyway, there were huge barrels, and 


A BORN NURSE 


25 


a large quantity of cottonseed, and after the weather got 
cool we helped to pack the apples into the barrels—a layer 
of apples, and a layer of cottonseed . . . but the effort for 
that work was well rewarded, for in the cold days of winter 
we had all the delicious apples that were needed.” 

“Well, just what did the cottonseed have to do with 
apples?” Jewel asked. “I really have not heard of packing 
apples with cottonseed.” 

“Why, the cottonseed preserved them—kept them from 
freezing.” 

“You have heard of ‘Sipping cider through a straw’?” 

“Yes, sure, Kassie. But don’t tell me you sipped cider.” 

“Oh! to be sure. I certainly did, but now wait; I sipped 
from an individual glass, and not through a straw.” 

“And I wonder about that, Kassie. Are you sure?” 

“Oh, fiddlesticks—keep guessing.” 

“Well, the apples were sorted, and the good ones were 
run through a cider mill, the juice stored away to become 
vinegar. Although any time the grandchildren visited there, 
we were given cider and, of course, too much of it is intoxi¬ 
cating. How Fay and I would long to let Kay drink a little 
too much of it! Grandmother would tell us that it would 
make us drunk, but we wanted to see for ourselves what it 
would do for Kay. But we were watched too closely, and 
Kay never drank enough to have any effect. Well, we ate 
gingerbread, too. And I have often wondered what would 
have happened if we could have had free rein with the 
cider and gingerbread!” 

“Yes, Kassie, I would like to have heard the results of 
that, too. There must not have been a dull moment when 
you were around, and I must say you have not changed a 
lot—as yet.” 

“I will tell you of some dull moments, Jewel, very dull.” 

“Yes, and when was that?” Jewel asked. 

“Oh, back years ago, when I had to go fishing with my 
Grandmother. She could sit on the bank of a lake or any 
fishing place, and never move for hours, and poor little me 
had to sit there, too, holding a pole in the water, and never 
getting a nibble for encouragement.” 


26 


A BORN NURSE 


“Now that would be tiresome, I can well imagine,” Jewel 
interrupted. 

“I would plead and persuade her to move to another 
place and, Jewel, all she would say would be: ‘Child! You 
must have patience to be a good fisherman. Land O Goshen, 
you are worse than Jessie’s little fice. What is to become 
of the children of this age and time, can’t be still a moment?’ 
I think she, more or less, asked the question as food for her 
own thought.” 

“Oh, sure. I have heard such remarks many times, ‘What 
is to become of this new generation’?” Jewel laughingly 
said. 

“Jewel, I have often thought how happy and contented 
Grandmother was to sit there in the serene quiet of the 
place. And Jewel there is a stream of water on the prop¬ 
erty I have purchased for the building of this dream-home 
for the aged; I just wonder if I could have a nice lake built 
for fish? There would be sufficient fresh water for the lake 
from the stream. The old folks, who were not confined to 
beds, could while away many happy hours fishing in the lake. 
And, too, there would be a fresh supply of fish for food— 
perhaps I shall see about that little matter, and before very 
long.” 

“I agree with you. I believe that it would be a grand 
idea, knowing you as I do. It would be a place of beauty; 
soon it would be landscaped, with flowers and shrubs galore. 
Yes, I believe you have something worth while to think 
about. Though my dear, count the cost, too; for if you 
started it, and had to wait too long to finish it, your heart 
would be broken. Notwithstanding that you seem to have 
the patience you would need. I suppose things come to them 
who work and wait.” 

“Yes, I have heard that, too. But someone has really got 
to help in the meantime,” Kassie said. 

“To be sure,” Jewel replied. 

“Now getting back to life on the farm,” Kassie said. 
“Father had purchased an addition to the farm of one 
thousand acres. And of course that meant more cot¬ 
ton, peanuts, corn and syrup cane. We hired about fifteen 


A BORN NURSE 


27 


colored women the first summer, and of course as many 
colored men as we could afford. My sisters and I went to 
the cotton fields right along with the colored women. Father 
depended on us to see that they kept busy with cotton pick¬ 
ing, but the hot sun made a number of them lax, though 
usually the negroes would sing spirituals, and we girls sang 
along with them. My, how they could chop, or pick cotton 
as they sang! And there would be nothing to worry about 
after they began singing. I feel as though sometimes I can 
hear them yet. ‘Sw-ing, lo-w, sweet cha-r-i-ot’ it would just 
ring. And Jewel, speaking of singing spirituals, brings back 
a memory that I cannot understand or forget. About one 
and a half miles from my home (I was still a young girl 
at the time I am speaking of), lived an old, old negro man 
who beat a drum. It could be heard for miles around; in 
the stillness of the evening there would be this seemingly 
strange music. There was a difference in the beating of the 
drum—sometimes it sounded as if it might be talking, giv¬ 
ing out some kind of a message. And then again a certain 
sound brought the colored people from every direction, 
going to the beating of the drum. And far into the night 
they could be heard singing spirituals—voices ringing in 
the air. It was beautiful. Untrained voices, altho I must say 
queer, out there in the woodland close to the old darky’s 
shack, the still darkness of night and the flickering of a 
bonfire, and the smell of roasting potatoes among the hot 
charcoals and ashes. The strange thing was that not one 
of the colored people would talk of the drum beating. We 
girls were very curious and would try to bring up the subject 
of the drum beating among the colored people only to have 
our efforts rewarded with a frightened glance at each other 
in the group.” 

“Kassie, you mean they would not say one word?” 

“No. Not one. I have often wondered if the weird beat¬ 
ing of the drum dated back to some form of ritualistic 
ceremony of the jungles of Africa.” 

“Well, I just could not say, but I can imagine it did sound 
very creepy, with everything being so quiet. Did the beat- 


28 


A BORN NURSE 


ing of the drum continue on rainy and cold nights of the 
winter?” 

“Yes. For as long as I can remember. That is, until I left 
the old country home. If I can think of it sometime when I 
am down that way, I will ask someone if the beating of the 
drum has ceased. Just out of curiosity, I would like to know. 
Almost all the colored people of that district were very well 
behaved; we seldom heard of any misbehavior among them. 
Do you suppose there was some kind of a covenant con¬ 
cerning the drum?” 

“I really would not know; but it could have been a 
possibility,” Jewel said. “And of course they had a right to 
keep it a secret if they wished to do so.” 

“Yes, yes. Every right to do so,” Kassie agreed. 

“Kassie, what was life on the farm like, in the winter?” 
Jewel asked. “All the summer’s work done, and time on 
your hands.” 

“Well, about the last of November, each year, there was 
cane syrup to be made. It was a lot of fun. The cane had 
to be run through a cane mill, to press out the juice, then 
the barrels of sweet juice is cooked in a vat over a slow 
fire, until it becomes thick and is syrup—then the fun of 
making candy with the last of the syrup in the vat! Oh, 
there was always a crowd of people ready for the candy¬ 
pulling when the last cooking of syrup was made; yes, and 
it really was a lot of fun. The amount of juice put into the 
vat cooks down to about a third before it becomes syrup. 
How I loved to sit by the fire and smell the delicious syrup 
cooking. However, I never forgot the urge to nurse. 

“In the evenings, the family sat by the glowing fire in 
the fireplace, until the fire would die down to embers. I re¬ 
member many times seeing Mother sit by the fire tying gill 
nets for the spring fishing, or carding cotton for padding 
for quilts, with the old-fashioned hand-carders. She would 
gaze into the dying embers of the fire. I can imagine it kind 
of brought back memories to her, both pleasant and sad. 
Mother was very strict with the children; but one time I did 
defy her to the very last. Although I really was frightened, 
Mother thought I was only trying to disobey her. There 


A BORN NURSE 


29 


was a hen s nest under the corn crib, and it must have been 
one of their favorite nests for several of the fowls laid their 
eggs in it, and I had been crawling under the crib every day 
previously, and gathering the eggs. But on this particular 
day, I started to crawl under the crib, and suddenly I felt 
that if I did, the whole building would fall on me. I thought 
sure I saw the floor sagging, and I went back to the house 
and told Mother I was afraid the crib would fall on me if I 
went under there. She said, ‘You get out there and gather 
those eggs, and no more foolishness.’ I started crying, and 
Mother gave me a very light whipping, but still I cried 
that I was afraid; she eventually got so provoked with me 
she went out to the crib with me, and still I pleaded I was 
scared. By this time she was angry, and I got several whip¬ 
pings, right along together, but I was still afraid. So Mother 
told me to get a hoe, or a rake and drag them out of the 
nest. Of course that damaged the nest, but I could not help 
that.” 

“Kassie, did you honestly believe the crib would fall on 
you ?” 

“Yes, honestly I did feel that very way—” 

“Oh, no! Well, did the crib ever fall?” 

“No, and I never crawled under it again either.” 

“I just can’t imagine anything like that,” Jewel said. 

“Well, anyway I can think of it yet and feel smothered, 
even as absurd as it might sound,” Kassie replied. 

Kassie continued: “Oh, I was telling you how we spent 
the winter evenings. The school work had to be done first 
thing after the supper dishes were cleared away. Then we 
might make shadow pictures on the wall.” 

“Oh! and what are shadow pictures, may I ask?” 

“Well, Jewel, here is one for an example. Come on and 
follow directions. Place palms of hands together, and 
fingers straight, and together.” 

“Like this?” Jewel asked. 

“Yes. Now cross the left thumb over the right thumb 
and let the thumbs stick up; now let the two little fingers 
drop slightly. See? Now in shadow picture, you have a 
wolf’s head, and by moving the little fingers up to meet 


30 


A BORN NURSE 


the ring fingers, and down again, makes the wolf open and 
shut its mouth. Of course, the shadow must fall on a wall. 
We had kerosene lamps for a long time on the farm, and 
we had lots of fun making shadow pictures, by the lamp 
light.” 

“Well, in the privacy of my room, I am going to prac¬ 
tice some of these so-called shadow pictures,” Jewel said. 
“And I hope no one ever catches me making them, for I 
would feel rather foolish.” 

“I do not see any reason for feeling foolish. Why, Jewel, 
you might get married and have a crowd of children to en¬ 
tertain, and I am sure any normal child likes shadow pic¬ 
tures.” 

“Maybe you are right. Who knows what the future 
holds?” 

“Showing you how to make shadow pictures with my 
hands reminds me of folding my fist, like this, and whistling 
—I was just about the champion hog-caller in our neighbor¬ 
hood.” 

“No. Kassie, did you raise hogs for the 4-H club?” 

“No. I raised Barred rock chickens, and entered them in 
the fair, as a 4-H club member. I remember how disappoint¬ 
ed I was in not receiving first prize. I thought they w r ere 
such beauties. I enjoyed being a 4-H club member; and I 
recall attending a camp for a week for the members, and 
we learned a lot about cooking. Oh, I did get a prize for 
making a salad dressing. At the end of the week we attend¬ 
ed a meeting and enjoyed a barbecue at a college here in the 
state. We also had a field day every year. Naturally, we 
looked forward to this special day. Oh, there were games 
galore, and one I well remember, tossing the bean bag into 
three circles, large, medium, and small, or more often 
called the bull’s-eye, which was a count for fifteen points, 
medium ten, and of course the outer circle five. Well, I was 
rather lucky for I won a beautiful box of handkerchiefs. 
Some youngster in the crowd would say, ‘There goes an¬ 
other bull’s-eye.’ Perhaps that was what brought me luck, 
he just saying that.” 


A BORN NURSE 


31 


“Well, we shall keep guessing about that part of it, Kas¬ 
sie.” 

“Really, I must say as I look back over my childhood 
days on the farm, I enjoyed all of it—except the cotton 
picking with the hot sun blazing down, and carrying along 
a sack in which to put the picked cotton; oh, to be sure, I 
was reprimanded lots of times for sitting on the sack of 
cotton that I had picked. And one day as I sat on the cot¬ 
ton sack, a beautiful caterpillar came wriggling along. Life 
seemed so pleasant for him—I was day-dreaming, and 
thinking if I had as many legs as that little caterpillar, but 
someone would interrupt my day-dreaming by yelling, ‘Kas- 
sie, wake up! and come on. You will not have fifty pounds 
of cotton by sundown.’ How I longed just to sit there and 
watch the caterpillar; but if I could have known the true 
fact, I suppose the worm was actually toiling for a liveli¬ 
hood.” 

“You know, Kassie, I have wondered about things of that 
sort. Still, everything that breathes, even to plants and trees, 
have to get water, and food from the soil.” 

“Yes, that is very true,” Kassie agreed, and continued: 

“Jewel, this kind of reminds me of the time I was travel¬ 
ing into town one morning with Father. He can be very 
jovial as well as strictly business-like. On the way we had to 
pass a huge boulder by the side of the road. Father said, 
‘Kassie, you see that big rock there?’ 

“ ‘Yes, Sir, I do,’ I replied. 

He said, “ ‘Did you know that everytime that rock hears 
a rooster crow, it turns over?’ 

“ ‘No, I didn’t know it; let’s wait and see it turn over’.” 

“ ‘Kassie, the rock doesn’t hear,’ he said, and laughed 
very heartily. I was so disgusted I did not even smile. I just 
said, ‘Pshaw.’ He still thought it was very funny.” 

“Yes, and I presume it was funny, too. It was simple, and 
yet a little catchy. However, I suppose you were a more 
alert little girl from then on?” 

“Yes. I am sure it helped.” 


PART II 


“A happy day was approaching for me: I was going to 
live with an Uncle and Aunt. Oh, not that I was going to 
leave home, but that I was advancing in school. The little 
Hill school was being left behind. How I could just dream 
of the day I would hold my high school diploma in my 
hand, and then I would be ready to enter training for my 
cherished profession! When my Uncle asked me what I in¬ 
tended to do after graduation, and I told him I intended to 
become a Red Cross Nurse, how he patted me on the arm, 
and assured me that I would be entering a great field which 
was so much in need of trained nurses. ‘A wonderful call to 
service,’ he said. If I could have looked into the future and 
have had a glimpse of trying to be any kind of a nurse, I 
just do not believe that I could have braved the trials. But 
I was telling you of staying with Uncle and Aunt. They 
were also taking care of another niece who was a very love¬ 
ly, kind-hearted girl. Fannie’s father passed away leaving 
her an orphan, and as this Uncle and Aunt were childless, 
Fannie and I were very welcome in the home. We helped 
with the chores, before and after school. We also prepared 
the morning meals. Aunty busied herself taking out the 
hems of our dresses. They were long enough for the pre¬ 
vailing styles, but I would be in tears when I would want 
to wear something special and find the hem-lines let down 
and faced to make them even longer. Fannie would try to 
console me by saying ‘just hem them back up to where they 
were.’ But, gracious, that took time, and who wanted to hem 
a dress before going some place? But that had to be over¬ 
looked, because I was working toward an objective, and 
how my spirit would soar at the thought of nursing! Some 
of my Aunt’s relatives lived close by, including a very elder¬ 
ly lady and her invalid son. I enjoyed helping to nurse him. 
I carried milk to their home each day, and I believe it was 
really appreciated. They seemed so helpless there alone. 

“During this period of school I was happy and I made 
many friends among the girls and boys. As in most schools, 


32 


A BORN NURSE 


33 


the annual play had been planned, and the players selected 
for parts. The one who was given the leading role was a 
beautiful girl, and very popular. But about two weeks be¬ 
fore the play was to be given she became ill, and died. There 
were eleven girls and ten boys in the class, so the remaining 
ten girls were flower-girls at the funeral, and the ten boys. 
All of us were dressed in white, and sat together in the 
church. The older boys were pallbearers of our beloved 
schoolmate. Another girl was given the leading part in the 
drama, but it was with sad hearts, and a strong determina¬ 
tion to make the play successful. And indeed it had the 
earmarks of that very thing. 

“The school term eventually came to a close, and news 
had come also that the little Hill school would be consoli¬ 
dated with a larger one close enough to my home which 
would enable me to live at home again. So off to home 
again, and summer vacation. Oh, I knew there would be 
plenty of work to do on the farm, but I was secretly hoping 
that I could pick up some work to do for wages, as I wanted 
my own spending money, and Lady Luck favored me, for 
a cousin came by home one day and asked if any of us girls 
would consider packing peaches, in a little town not so far 
from home. Father reluctantly let us go, for he was doing 
well with a new sawmill and it seemed there were always 
additions being made to the farm land. Of course, a lot of 
the land being purchased at this time was covered with 
timber for the lumber business. And now he owned his own 
trucks for lumber-hauling, and we were afforded a car, but 
don’t get the idea that we would sit around idle, for that 
just does not get you anywhere with my parents; no, not 
even after these many years! 

“Packing peaches was a nice new experience. I was given 
the job of grading, and that was very easy work, compared 
to chopping cotton; and, too, we were allowed to drive 
Father’s car to and from work, which was quite a treat. 

“Have you ever visited that part of the state where so 
many peaches grow?” 

“Yes, Kassie, only last spring I was invited to spend a 
few days in the home of a patient I had nursed, she living 


34 


A BORN NURSE 


in the midst of a large orchard. Oh, such a lovely home and 
family! How I enjoyed that visit—the peach blossoms were 
in full bloom, and it looked like a huge crimson carpet spread 
over miles and miles of acreage. I understand that there are 
large orchards of peach trees that have white blossoms; 
perhaps next spring I can see more of this beautiful sight, 
as I now have a car of my own.” 

“Yes, I am sure you will enjoy your car very much. I am 
happy for you. And speaking of peach blossoms, I have some 
colored camera pictures of a large orchard in bloom. The 
next time I make a visit down to my Mother’s, I will bring 
them back with me. I should keep them in the album here 
along with the pictures we were looking at this morning. 

“Jewel, the first morning I worked in the packing-house 
I noticed two of the cutest boys, the smallest one had the 
job of nailing up crates, and he worked like a Trojan to 
keep up and have a few minutes to spare, then he would 
come and help me grade peaches, while my heart would be 
turning flips. I did not know that in the future he, Khase, 
would be my husband; anyway, there was another young 
man that would try to show me favors, and I really was 
enjoying all this attention. One time I recall, Khase’s family 
was giving a barbecue—but wait a minute! I am about to 
get the cart before the horse: The owner of the packing¬ 
house gave a barbecue for all the employees, and we were 
on our way to purchase a few more loaves of bread, just 
to be sure that there would be enough; Bill and Khase 
were the two boys going, and each one asked me to go with 
them and, of course, I agreed to go if another girl went 
along with us, and another girl did go. Bill got angry with 
me for getting into the back seat of the car with Khase, 
though I did not care at the time, but perhaps I might have 
decided to have ridden in the front seat with the driver 
had I known Khase was going to try to kiss me. Though I 
still get a thrill, when I think of how he would hold up his 
big straw hat, you know, one of the old-time sage hats, and 
try to conceal our faces from the couple in front of us, and 
beg me to kiss him.” 


A BORN NURSE 


35 


“Well, did you?” Jewel asked. 

“I did not,” Kassie replied. 

“Why not? You said you were thrilled did you not?” 

“Oh, sure, but nice girls just did not kiss boys they had 
know for such a short while. Goodness, I was embarrassed, 
too.” 

“Oh, well, I suppose you and Khase were sweethearts 
from then on. Am I right?” 

“No, I did not hear from him again, until the following 
Valentine’s day, when I received a valentine and a letter 
from him; you see, that was almost a year later. During 
this particular year we had a wonderful time at home, espe¬ 
cially in the winter evenings. There were lots of parties at 
home and in the neighborhood. I recall how Fay and I 
would go out to the woodland and gather lightwood knots 
for the fireplace; they made beautiful as well as very hot 
fires. The rooms would be quite cosy in the evenings for our 
parties. 

“In the fall of 1927 Fay and her boy friend eloped to 
South Carolina and married. That morning I was carrying 
several costumes to the school to be used in a play, and Fay 
hid her clothes in them, so when we arrived at school 
Fay went to a girl friend’s house and dressed for the wed¬ 
ding. Elmer hired a taxi for the trip to South Carolina, and 
I was about to cry my eyes out, for I did not want Fay to 
marry, much less elope. I was supposed to spend the week¬ 
end with a girl friend, and a part of the day Saturday re¬ 
hearsing for the school play. But no! When my parents 
heard about Fay, Father came for me at once. Oh, they 
were so angry with me, although I did all I could do, plead¬ 
ing until the last moment with her not to marry. Somehow, 
though, it seemed that my parents felt I should have pre¬ 
vented it. I had given my solemn promise not to tell the 
secret when Fay told me her intentions. So that was how I 
got into a jam. And there was one more jam I got into 
when Khase’s family was giving a barbecue and Father 
knew Pat and I wanted to go, so that morning before going 
to work he made it very plain that we were not to go. And 
that, too, was final. But Pat kept pestering Mother to let 


36 


A BORN NURSE 


us go, so finally she did consent for us to do so; but I was 
afraid of Father, and when Khase came for us I told him 
we could not go; Pat said, ‘Khase, Mother said we could go, 
and if Kassie will not, it is just because she does not want to 
go with you.’ Well, now, that just would not do, because 
I did not wish Khase to be angry with me. We went. 

“We had a wonderful time all day, except when I would 
think of getting a whipping or being ‘bawled’ out by Father. 
Close to time to be going home, Pat and I decided if we 
could get some of our girl friends to go home with us and 
spend the week-end, perhaps Father would be calmed down 
by Monday morning and forget the whole thing; but that 
evening as I was out in the flower garden cutting fresh 
flowers for the house, he called for me to come into the 
house. Oh, he had already talked to Pat, byt she didn’t 
mind at all; as long as he just talked, she would listen. 

“Father began: ‘Why have you disobeyed me? Can’t 
you listen to anything I say? If you ever get into trouble 
you can never darken my door again; remember that!’ 

“I cried so long that I suppose he had time to think that 
I really did not mean to be disobedient, and perhaps he 
thought of the times he would have severe headaches and 
how I would enjoy nursing him. Well, eventually he told 
me to stop crying and prepare for supper, and he gave me a 
dollar, saying, ‘Here, take this and put it with your sav¬ 
ings.’ He knew that I was saving to buy my class-ring. But 
he would not eat any of the box of nice barbecue Khase’s 
family had fixed for them, taking only a cup of coffee for 
supper. I really felt hurt, but perhaps that might be what 
has kept me living in the right way. 

“As I have said before, my parents were very strict. The 
first movie I attended was when the banquet was held at the 
end of the school senior year.” 

“Who was your date at this first movie?” 

“Now wait, I wasn’t so countryfied that he had to worry 
about my behavior.” 

“Well, I had not thought of that side of the story. What 
did you think of your first movie, or picture show?” 

“Truly I was not very excited, for I knew in a few more 


A BORN NURSE 


37 


days I would be holding my precious diploma in my hand, 
which would mean I could start training to become a nurse. 
However, odds were against me then, just as they are now 
and have been all the while—if only my dear ones could 
understand why I must be a nurse. But they do not, and 
that is that. My parents never did say Pat and I could go in 
training for nursing; we just kept preparing to go. 

“Pat came home from college, she was finishing her 
schooling, and I was finishing high school, but the summer 
vacation was between us and nursing. Oh, we made the most 
of that summer; nine of our girl friends spent the week 
with us during the revival at the church. I had received a 
Bible in school as a reward for getting the most headmarks 
in spelling and I proudly carried my Bible to every church 
service. When the teacher asked me what I would rather 
have as a prize, I asked for the Bible, knowing I would need 
it for guidance through the trials I would face as a 
nurse, yet how little I really knew at that time of my life!” 

“Yes, how true. So very little the most of us know in our 
teen-age,” Jewel interrupted. 

Kassie continued: “I was converted and joined the church, 
and the rites of baptism administered there, at the more 
than a century-old church. That was a wonderful revival 
that year. The young people were very active, many of us 
sang special songs. Pat was a soprano singer and I sang 
alto. Then at home while the nine girls visited with us we 
entertained by singing and some of the girls played the 
piano. And at night we laid mattresses on the floor so we 
could all sleep in the same room. Really some nights we 
would stay awake and talk until two or three o’clock in the 
morning. One night we were all talking and laughing when 
we heard a noise, at one of the windows, as if some one was 
trying to break in. I think all of us girls yelled at about the 
same time. Father came running into the room in his night 
clothes, and Pat had lighted a lamp while Father ran and 
got his old trusty thirty-eight revolver, and with him lead¬ 
ing the way down the hall there were all the girls in night¬ 
gowns, white, blue, yellow and pink holding on to each 
other’s back. And somehow the flame of fire ignited the lamp 


38 


A BORN NURSE 


bowl of benzine, and the lamp had to be carried out in the 
yard and the fire extinguished, but Father was not afraid of 
anything, for he was a good marksman.” 

“And you did not hear any more noises at the window that 
night ?” 

“No. The rest of the night was very calm, even we girls 
did not talk any more that night. 

“The month of August brought great piles of water¬ 
melons, the nice, large ones were for slicing and the smaller 
ones were thrown to the swine. And cotton picking began in 
August, only this year I would not pick cotton in the great 
white fields. No! My precious dreams were coming true! 
Yes, beginning to materialize for I had received a letter 
stating Pat and I would be expected to arrive at training 
school to enter the new class September the first. 

“My blood seemed to tingle throughout my body as the 
time came to start for our new destination. Altho, then as 
now, my parents wished me to choose something else for 
they felt I would marry, as I had been dating Khase for a 
long time, and they knew we thought quite well of each 
other. And Mother feels that a woman’s duty is to her home 
and family first of all, and, naturally, she is right. How my 
heart has ached when the cross was heavy to bear! Love 
for my husband, children, and my home. And how they have 
felt forsaken, at times. And so many times I have earnestly 
tried to get away from the profession, but there were al¬ 
ways a dozen good reasons for returning to it again. Oh, 
getting back to the day we started to leave for the hospital: 
Mother and Father carried us to the depot, to see us off. And 
I am sure they were not pleased with our final decision to 
become nurses.” 

“Kassie, I just can’t understand why they would be so 
opposed to the nursing profession. However, they had their 
reason.” 

Kassie continued: “It was Labor Day when we arrived 
at our destination and we were made to feel very welcome 
by the nurses and the student-nurses. On Labor Day evening 
we watched the display of fireworks in the city park. I was 
so happy. Ah! at last—desire—ambition; surely life would 


A BORN NURSE 


39 


never be anything but contentment. But where I made one 
mistake was when I persuaded Pat to go in training with 
me . . . She was not talented for nursing. Oh, do not get 
me wrong; she made a wonderful student-nurse, but she 
was not exactly satisfied; there was something lacking for 
her to want to nurse. I have often wondered why she did 
not try teaching school; perhaps she just did not concen¬ 
trate on what she did want to do, though in later years she 
has done well enough in the retail merchandise business.” 

“Kassie, you know I had the same idea of Pat the day I 
met her. At once I thought she should be a teacher. I can 
imagine she would make a very fine one; do you suppose 
she ever had any idea of it?” 

“I don’t know,” Kassie said, wonderingly. 

“Well, anyway, I could hardly wait for my uniform to 
be made, and the first thing we were suposed to learn I was 
well acquainted with—taking temperatures, and the like.” 

“Oh, yes, I will remember the first few days I spent when 
I entered training, they were very happy, too,” Jewel re¬ 
marked. 

“Jewel, in three weeks’ time I was given the responsibility 
of my patient’s charting and everything pertaining to the 
needs of the patient. I was one happy girl; I felt that when 
I donned my starched white apron and blue uniform and 
went on duty I could face any kind of a crisis that might 
arise. 

“On the floor where I worked were two small wards, 
one for women, the other for men. And as you know be¬ 
fore hospitals became so over-crowded, it was only the 
people that were too poor to afford a private room, and as 
you know some were poorer than others. And again some 
of those who were really poverty-stricken were rich in ap¬ 
preciation of what the foot-weary nurse did for them. It was 
the ward patients for whom I so often felt sympathy, spend¬ 
ing considerable time trying to make them feel more com¬ 
fortable. 

“There were unfortunate ones who could not afford more 
than one gown, and most likely some one in pity gave it to 
them. Well, for a fresh gown to put on, I have washed the 


40 


A BORN NURSE 


gown when I would start to bathe the patient, and hung it 
over the sterlizer to dry, so by the time I would have the 
patient bathed and hair combed, teeth brushed, and a rub 
down with alcohol the gown was ready to use again; of 
course it was rough dried, but sanitary. The poor old 
wrinkled faces of some of the patients were wreathed in 
smiles after my effort to try and show them that some one 
cared how they looked and felt. I feel sure I have been 
amply rewarded for the time I have spent in the work as 
a ward nurse. I truly felt that I was doing what God wanted 
me to do. 

“The superintendent was all for business. What I mean, 
is the money had to be forthcoming for service. Of course, 
it does take money to run a hospital, just as in any kind of 
business; but in some cases I have cared for I thought per¬ 
haps the official was living without a heart beating within 
her breast.” 

“Kassie, perhaps you are not giving her her just dues. 
After all, there is a limit as to expense, and effort; and some 
people never look ahead, they seem to think they will for¬ 
ever be able to live every day for itself. And, too, there is 
a class which does not care, of course; I sincerely believe in 
doing all I can for the ill. But d^ tell me what caused you 
to be so critical of the person in question?” 

“Well, one of the things which irritated me was when an 
old fellow was brought in for an emergency operation, this 
superintendent stopped all preparations until she could find 
he had some way to pay: this patient lying there gasping 
for breath she finally discovered that his only possession 
in the world was one milch cow, and she wanted to be sure 
he did own one! So the orderly and a fellow that came with 
him to the hospital went to bring the cow to the hospital, 
and she ordered it to be tied in the back yard of the 
hospital, and the orderly was to care for it until she could 
be sold for a fair price to defray expenses of this man’s 
operation.” 

“And did the man get the needed operation?” 

“Oh, yes, eventually, and after a determined struggle he 
recovered from his illness. Jewel, do not get me wrong, for 


A BORN NURSE 


41 


I have worked under many fine head nurses. And lucky are 
the student-nurses who have an understanding head nurse to 
train them. Naturally, every one cannot see things the same 
way. I inclined to believe in trying to be helpful, or should 
I say, to be ‘our brother’s keeper?’ Sometimes I wonder, 
when someone has fallen by the wayside, if it could have 
been prevented by someone who cared at one time or an¬ 
other. I am thinking of the case of a young girl who entered 
the hospital one morning. Yes, she was a ward patient. One 
of the nurses, I mean one of the student-nurses that had 
been in training longer than I had, came by and said: 
‘Super, is on the warpath, bringing in a ward patient—one 
of those characters; and she doesn’t have any folks, so she 
says.’ Then I heard the Super, saying, as she went by the 
room I was cleaning, jingling a large bunch of keys as she 
walked, ‘Just a slut, a bitch; she ought to be thrown out of 
the wfindow. Such crap should not be shown any mercy at 
all. What will she have with which to pay her bill! She will 
tell who her people are, when I get through with her; 
humph! they will know just what she is.’ She went on fussing 
and fuming and not particularly speaking to any certain one. 
Well, the girl was admitted, a very pretty girl; she had 
come from another state. She was away from home and later 
I learned her parents thought she was working at a decent 
place and everything was all right. But she had fallen as so 
many do, ending up in a red-light district. Some quack 
Doctor had induced an abortion. I was with her at the 
time she gave birth and it must have been about four months. 
How well I remember the time of year, the sacred time of 
Easter season. I talked with her about her life, and we had 
prayer. She carried a gold cross, and one pink silk gown 
was her sole possession. On Sunday morning I bathed her, 
and asked her where her clean growns were and she said, 
‘I do not own another one.’ I gave that one a washing and 
hung it on the sterilizer to dry as usual in such cases. I set 
her pretty black hair in waves, and fixed her face with 
make-up. Oh, yes, a boy friend came in to see her that after¬ 
noon, and asked her who washed her gown, and when she 
told him, he left very soon and did not come back that day, 


42 


A BORN NURSE 


but on Monday he came in with a beautiful blue silk gown 
for her. He acted as if he might be ashamed of what had 
happened and they were talking of a very quiet wedding, 
and going to another town and making a new start in life. 
Whether they did or not, I never learned, although I have 
faith and hope that they did do so.” 

“You did not try to find out where they went to live?” 

“No. Jewel I did what I thought was right, while she 
was in my care. And too, I changed shifts before she left.” 

“Kassie, what about her expenses? Did she pay her hos¬ 
pital bill?” 

“I really cannot say if she did. Her parents did send her 
some money, how much, I don’t know. I do know that she 
spent a very mournful day after receiving a letter from her 
parents.” 

“How did you like working the night shift, Kassie, while 
you were in training?” 

“Everything was just fine, except that we were fed so 
poorly that I lost about twenty pounds in just a few weeks, 
until we ‘wised up’—there would practically be nothing left 
for the nurses, or student-nurses, at night. My sister Pat 
said she could unlock the pantry door with a silver knife, if 
someone else would help to prepare the food after she got 
it, so we had plenty of coffee and sandwiches, though we 
had to be very, very careful not to leave any sign of cook¬ 
ing. For it was very little that the students had to do to lose 
all our hours—not just the one that was guilty, but all of 
us.” 

“Oh, yes, how well I know the rule,” Jewel said. 

Kassie continued: “The Super, seemed to be very happy 
in taking away our hours, which was done several times. 
Pat would be angry when they were taken from us, and 
she would always say, ‘Kassie, I don’t know why I ever let 
you pull me into this damn mess anyway.’ However, Pat al¬ 
ways did her best in her work. 

“On the night shift, I did feel afraid to go into the base¬ 
ment. A door that led out to the alley remained unlocked 
at all times, and Super, would not hire a regular man to 
fire the furnace. The students were taught that task, too; 


A BORN NURSE 


43 


every four hours two girls had to go to the basement to 
shovel coal into the furnace, and check the water gauge. 
To get down to the basement we went out to the sidewalk 
and down the steps to the basement floor. Not even a small 
light bulb was allowed to burn to give a guiding light. I 
don’t believe Super, wanted just to be thrifty, I think it was 
pure meanness. How we crept along in the darkness trying 
to find the cord to turn on the light! And the bulb that was 
there was similar to a lightning bug. Sometimes, while slip¬ 
ping along, we could hear noises, and with our hearts pound¬ 
ing, while holding on to each other, maybe a cat would be 
frightened by us, and go whizzing by. We would go through 
the boiler room and then to the coal bin to get the coal. 
While we were down there, we would think of anatomy, the 
parts that were no longer wanted, or needed, of course they 
had to be discarded—and what was more sanitary than 
cremating? 

“One night Alice, the girl who went with me to fire the 
furnace, did not know about the water gauge, and when I 
went to check it, she asked what would happen if there was 
not any water showing in the gauge. I told her about the big 
boiler at Father’s sawmill, and how sometimes the water 
would get low in the boiler, and the negroes would run for 
dear life, while the fireman would drag out the fire to keep 
the boiler from blowing to bits. Well, that sounded rather 
exciting to her for a moment, and she started shoveling 
coal, and saying, ‘Lets blow ’er up!’ I asked: ‘Girl what are 
you thinking of?’ 

“ ‘Oh, some fun of course,’ she replied. ‘Don’t we fire 
this thing every four hours? Maybe if we let it blow one 
time, Super, will consider giving a man’s work to a man.’ 

“ ‘Alice, you can’t mean it!’ shoveling coal all the time 
she talked. 

“ ‘Come on Kassie, let’s get this coal in there.’ 

“ ‘Alice, as far as the boiler is concerned I would enjoy 
seeing it have a few expensive repairs, but there is much 
more to be considered. There are a lot of helpless people 
in this building and this boiler would surely make a mess of 
things, if it were allowed to explode. You would not de- 


44 


A BORN NURSE 


liberately murder someone would you, just because another 
is able to give you a raw deal?’ Alice leaned on her shovel 
handle and said, ‘Ah, Kassie, I do not believe it would be 
so bad as that.’ 

“ ‘Alice, I am not kidding you, and any time you decide to 
do anything so drastic, please let me know just a few mo¬ 
ments beforehand, so I can get out of the building. I really 
want to graduate from the school.’ 

“ ‘Maybe you are right,’ Alice said. ‘But it is dangerous 
for girls to come down here alone at all times of the night.’ 

“ ‘I certainly agree; but you know, too, that we must be 
able to take care of ourselves, and perhaps that is why she 
tells us to take care of the furnace—you know, make “heap 
big braves” of us.’ ‘Well,’ Alice said skeptically, ‘it might 
help some of the girls to overcome fear, but I doubt seri¬ 
ously if it will do anything for me, in the way of being 
brave.’ Then another cat chasing a mouse and upsetting a 
watering can, caused us to clasp each other in fright for a 
few seconds. If we could have gotten by without losing our 
hours, we would have left the tiny light burning for the 
next trip to fire the furnace.” 

“Kassie, I must say that was a man’s work, and I believe 
I would have tried to find a new school for my training. 
Although I do know about those things.” 

“Well, the training was rugged, but it was worth it all to 
be doing the work I loved. I suppose the students could have 
made things more pleasant for the superintendent but 
every time she became very angry, whether it was with the 
doctors, nurses, or her husband, she would jingle a bunch 
of keys, I learned from the different jingle of those keys 
the mood she was going to be in when she reached the sec¬ 
ond floor. When I heard a certain jingle, I was very busy 
when she came into the room where I was working. For in 
one of those moods, enough work just could not be found for 
a student to do; and then there were times when she became 
so angry she would get sick, becoming cynotic, and have a 
few days in bed. One of the nurses, who was for all the fun 
she could get out of life, picked up the Super’s, beautiful 
starched cap and pitched it up and hit the ceiling and said, 


A BORN NURSE 


45 


‘Gals, for a few days we have peace and quiet around here. 
The Super, is in for a brief illness, and during the rest she 
will plan a few new miseries for us, so enjoy yourselves now.’ 

“All of us felt the same way, but it was only she that put 
it in so many words. And when I went home on a vacation, 
I asked the folks to please be careful of jingling keys around 
me for I was getting in the habit of listening for them. Alert 
was getting to be a middle name for me. When Pat and I 
came down with measles, and were quarantined in the same 
room together—I was glad we were together, for our room 
was just around the corner from the white male ward, and 
just a few days before I took measles, a convict was brought 
in and placed in the ward. I don’t know for what offence he 
was serving a prison term, but he had been working on the 
roads, in the vicinity, and happened to an accident. A piece 
of rock was imbedded in his skull, and had affected his mind. 
He had been very feeble and harmless, of course, the last 
time I had heard of him, until one night a girl friend had 
come into the room and had written a letter for Pat and me 
to our parents, and it was nice of her to see that we received 
our mail while we were in quarantine. When she left the 
room, I had turned my face to the wall on my side of the 
room, and Pat had done likewise on the opposite side. A 
knock on the door was answered by a ‘Come in’ by me, and 
slowly the door was opening. I wondered why the door was 
being so slowly, slowly opened and then I heard a mumbling. 
Pat and I sat up in bed about the same time—there was 
this convict, pushing the door further open and mumbling 
something about bells. Pie was staring blankly, his head was 
all bandaged, and he was wearing a hospital shirt, barely 
dragging one foot after the other. He looked terrible and 
my first impulse was to scream, but common sense and 
nurses’ training was strong enough to control me: never 
yell at a patient, never upset a patient—keep calm at all 
times—and a half dozen other things flashed through my 
mind. I am sure that Pat must have been thinking some of 
the same things, as we both started talking very calmly to 
him at the same time, saying, ‘Go back to your room, Mr. 
John, you are ill; go to your room and get back into your 


46 


A BORN NURSE 


bed.’ Whether what we were saying to him was understood 
or not I will never know, but he turned and started dragging 
out as slowly as he had come in and still mumbling. 

“Did he get well again, I mean did his mind get all right ?” 

“I really don’t know. I never saw him again. Although 
I was out of quarantine in two weeks, on a Sunday morning, 
and I was told to go on duty that night. When I reported 
for duty I drew the task of sorting and counting all the 
linen that had been soiled Saturday and all day Sunday. 
Down in the dimly lighted basement all alone I counted 
linen, feeling weak from being ill, and so frightened that I 
was ready to jump at the least noise. Counting, counting, 
and watching and jumping, so when the automatic water 
heater turned on I thought of the convict that had come 
into my room and I jumped, hitting my head on a water 
pipe, practically knocking myself out. Oh, I just knew that 
convict John had hit me on the head. After completing the 
linen count, another unpleasant task confronted me, which 
was to dust all the Doctors’ offices and put them in readi¬ 
ness for the morning. I felt as though I were alone in some 
foreign country. Not a soul to talk to in that part of the 
building at that time of the night. The Superintendent made 
sure that those jobs were done in the most lonely part of 
the night. There was one thing to be sure of and that was 
the Super, was in the habit of creeping around. I think she 
enjoyed seeing the students frightened. Still everyone has his 
faults, but there was no need of having so many. I thought 
of it that way for the time being. Oh, well! A silver lining 
to every dark cloud is my belief. So with all the trials and 
temptations at the training school, I really enjoyed the work, 
and the evenings when I was working the day shift I could 
enjoy the flowers and the lily pools in the back yard of the 
hospital. And, of course, that beautiful moon that shines so 
brightly. The nurses coming off duty, and lingering a while in 
the moonlight, sitting on the concrete benches to rest and 
breathe some of the precious fresh air that God has so won¬ 
derfully provided for us. Sometimes we would just sit and 
talk, and again we would sing. One of our favorites being 
Carolina Moon. Of course, that would be when the moon 


A BORN NURSE 


47 


was so pretty we just could not resist singing the lovely 
song.” 

“I remember several such evenings, myself. Yes, lovely 
evenings. But Kassie, I was always getting homesick.” 

“Oh, sure, there was homesickness to contend with. For 
over the week-ends we did not have to study and that gave 
us time to think more of home. But most of the students 
were able to ward off the homesick feeling by going on the 
short trips to the nearby mountains, with our dates, two or 
three of the girls going along together. We had wonderful 
times sight-seeing on those trips. And the mountain air was 
so good to breathe.” 

“Kassie, have you been lucky enough to see the mountains, 
when the dogwood, and red buds (or the Judas tree, as it 
is so often called), were in bloom? And of course you do 
have mountain laurel, dogwood and the red buds here in 
Georgia, but it is quite a treat to see them in bloom on the 
mountain side. Kassie, I saw the wild azaleas in bloom one 
year on the mountains, and a prettier sight does not exist. 
Entangled among the green laurels, and the long-leaf pines 
making a canopy over them—Nature in all its glory. How 
much more we should appreciate beauty. It really would 
help a smile to replace a frown and a down-on-the-world 
look. I feel that everyone has a blessing, regardless of how 
poor or poverty stricken. There are very few people who 
cannot afford a plant or two. Take the bouquet there on the 
table, the white spirea van houtti, the blossoms so dainty 
and the white is so pure, it really is more than one can grasp; 
enough to make any one stop and think: who made this beau¬ 
tiful flower? If the plant can obtain food, and grow into 
something to fill our hearts with joy, why cannot we grow 
as the pretty flower does, pure and enjoyable?” 

“Jewel, that is meant to help to bring happiness to some 
unfortunate. Bring a smile to a sorrowing face. As you 
know, I am speaking of the home for the convalescent, and 
the aged. And I also wish to make room for the welfare 
babies, the little fellows that are not wanted in this world 
by the parents. To give them the start in life that God in¬ 
tended them to have. My heart would be full to overflowing, 


48 


A BORN NURSE 


if only my dreams and ambition for this home could be 
realized.” 

“Yes, Kassie, you are about to get me really interested 
in this home. I can vaguely see through the mist the old 
ladies, those that are physically able to sit on the veranda 
of the home, and knit, crochet or enjoy the scenery, and 
those confined to bed, have clean fresh beds on which to lie. 
Yes, I do believe you have a wonderful idea. I do hope that 
it materializes, for the remaining days of a few of our dear 
old people can be made happier.” 

“Surely there will be a way for me to accomplish this aim, 
before many more years pass,” Kassie said. 

“Yes, yes, surely,” Jewel agreed. 

“And getting back to my life in training for nursing. 

“Before I left home for the hospital, Khase and I became 
engaged to be married, only after I had graduated from 
the nursing school. He agreed to v/ait, and foolish like, we 
were to be true blue to each other while I was away and I 
had not dated alone, for as I told you before two or three 
girls would go along when I went out driving with a friend.” 

“Well, did Khase stay true to you?” Jewel asked. 

“He dated a girl, when he went to a party, then wrote 
and told me about it. Oh, sure, it made me angry, and a 
nice young fellow that had been a patient—my patient, 
had asked me for dates, but as you know we are not sup¬ 
posed to date patients. But this particular day I received 
the letter from Khase saying he had dated a girl, my patient 
was being dismissed from the hospital to go home, which 
was thirty or thirty-five miles away. Well, he asked me 
again just before he left the hospital for a date, and I 
thought Khase was dating and I should take the same 
privilege. Well, Earl was to come back the following week¬ 
end, and he did come back. He brought a lovely box of can¬ 
dy, and carried three of us girls for a drive into the moun¬ 
tains. Pat and Archie our very nice girl friends, took turns 
sitting on each other’s lap, for the car was a coupe. 

“The next date with Earl was made and I was going to 
ask the supervisor’s permission to date this former patient. 
Oh, I felt positive that she would say it would be all right. 


A BORN NURSE 


49 


But how wrong I was! She said, ‘Kassie, you know the rules 
here, that all the hours will be taken away from the students 
if you are caught dating patients.’ 

‘ Sure, the students would be very angry with me if such 
a thing should happen and, too, I did not want my hours 
thrown to the four winds. The only thing to do was to fill 
the date and try to explain the situation to him again. But 
try was all, for when I tried to explain, he became angry 
with me. We were driving along the highway close to the 
edge of town when he speeded up, and was exceed¬ 
ing the speed limit of the town. My heart felt as though it 
might be beating somewhere in my neck, and my mind was 
skipping to what might happen: Suppose the police picked 
us up for speeding and maybe put us in jail; then the Super¬ 
visor would know I had not heeded her warning, and all the 
girls would be angry about their hours. And perhaps I would 
just be kicked out of school completely. No, a tire went flat, 
and he had to pull into a garage to have it repaired. And we 
quarreled. He accused me of being afraid of my boy friend 
back home, and that I was a coward, and I need not worry 
about losing my hours as a student-nurse, as he intended to 
take me to California with him as his wife, and expected to 
go about the middle of the summer. He pleaded that the 
Supervisor did not have to know about our dating. 

“Afterwards, the orderly brought me notes from Earl 
and one evening as I came off duty and proceeded to go to 
the nurses’ home, who should be waiting there but 
this young fellow, parked close to the steps in his coupe. 

He said: “ ‘I’ll be back in a few minutes, I am going to 
take my sister and cousin home, then I am coming back.’ 

“I wanted to tell two of my girl friends, who chatted of 
our daily experiences, but when I ran back to the room where 
they worked, I did not know that the old Super, had come 
back from her vacation, and was giving a demonstration. 
She was covered with towels and I did not see her, until I 
opened my mouth to tell Archie that Earl was coming for 
me to go driving. But I did not wait to ask her advice as 
to going with him. I dressed in my prettiest red dress with a 
tan yoke, and pinned a gold colored ribbon in my hair, and 


50 


A BORN NURSE 


of course Pat went along with us as I did rather like Earl 
and was sure I did not wish to be alone with him and maybe 
make a wild promise to go to California as his wife. 

“Pat decided she wanted to go to a movie, but Earl 
wished to go driving as a beautiful moon was coming up 
and driving would be much more pleasant. Pat did go to the 
movie. She became angry and got out of the car down town 
and Earl and I went for the drive into the country. 

“Earl talked of love and a little white cottage for us in 
the golden west. Oh, he pictured life as very beautiful for 
me and came very near convincing me as to the fact. But 
when the question arose as to whether I would give up this 
crazy idea of nursing, I felt nauseated. Here was love so 
close and a home pictured so vividly and still it seemed as 
though a knife had been plunged into my heart and all the 
life-giving blood was ebbing out of my body. No more nurs¬ 
ing, the thing I had been striving for! Earl was parking 
beside the higway and suddenly I felt very, very cold even 
though it was a warm night in the latter part of June. And 
the beautiful harvest moon seemed to be blurred. Why did 
things have to happen like this? I was reprimanding myself 
for having given him the first date—Khase ought to have 
kept the secret of dating another girl until we had an op¬ 
portunity to talk it over in person. All these things and many 
others were racing through my mind as Earl pulled me to 
him and kissed me. His lips were feverishly warm as they 
touched mine. When he picked up my icy hand in his he said, 
‘Yes, you do love nursing better than me; Kassie, I will try 
to understand. I cannot get angry with you again. Perhaps 
it would be better if I could; that would help to ease the 
pain in my heart. May God bless you in your work.’ I shed 
a few tears as he brought the car back onto the highway. Our 
trip back to the nurses’ home, as you may imagine, was 
spent in silence. I could not think of anything to say, so he 
kissed me good night and departed out of my life.” 

“Kassie, did you forget him very soon?” 

“No. But as you know there is always something new 
happening at hospitals. The next morning when I went to 
work I was taking care of a patient in a private room, and 


A BORN NURSE 


51 


the babies were kept in the private rooms with the mothers. 
The ward babies were kept in a separate room to them¬ 
selves. Anyway, I was bathing the infant in the private 
room, when I heard a noise and when I saw the horrified 
look on the mother’s face, I turned around and poor old 
Aunt Sadie was coming in with the bed covers around her, 
holding them by the corners at the top and the remainder 
sweeping the floor as she walked. Her mind was infirm and 
she believed this baby belonged to her. She was grabbing 
for the child, and trying to hold on to the covers around 
her. Well, I was thankful that another nurse was looking 
for Aunt Sadie and took her off my hands. The poor thing 
had made the mistake of using too many unnecessary nar¬ 
cotics. She had been a pretty woman in time past, and I 
can still see her as she stood there: her hair was about half 
grey and her body was as frail as it could be. After that 
trouble was taken care of, I had a queer feeling that I 
should see about one of the ward babies, so covering up 
the infant that I was bathing I went in a trot to the ward to 
find baby Sammie had wiggled around and pulled a pillow 
over his face and was smothering. I gave him artificial res¬ 
piration, throwing the fancy little pillow into the garbage 
can. Then I threw away every pillow that got into the babies’ 
ward after that. Some loving relations gave the most of 
them; of course, they meant well, to dress up the tiny fel¬ 
lows. As you know, from one excitement to another there 
was not too much time to be moaning over one’s woes. Then 
there was the fat lady which required the strength of three 
of us to lift her around; she never had any company, no 
living relation that we knew of. Almost all the nurses felt 
it their duty to be kind to her on every occasion. She 
fell off the bed one morning; I heard her when she hit the 
floor. I went running to see if she had been hurt, and she 
remarked as I went into the room, ‘Miss Kassie, that is one 
way to get out of bed.’ 

“It was, indeed. But now the problem was how to easily 
get her back into bed. Three of the nurses decided if we 
would work together, count to three and all lift at the same 
time perhaps that would solve the problem. Dessa, the 


52 


A BORN NURSE 


patient, was an old maid school teacher, and had given all 
of the best years of her life to that service some years ago. 
In the last year or so her mind was getting feeble and she 
would talk at random. When we would get ready to lift 
her, she would say something funny, then we would get to 
laughing and weaken, and have to let go of her again. Well, 
when she was safely in bed, you can wager that the safety 
guards were placed on the bed-side.” 

“Yes, Kassie, I have had a few of the same kind of ex¬ 
periences myself. You have not spoken of a vacation—did 
you have one while you were in training?” 

“Yes, Jewel, vacation was to be the downfall of my nurs¬ 
ing career. Pat and I worked through the summer with the 
understanding that if we worked the vacation periods for 
the girls, sister and I might have our vacation the second 
week in August. The revival meeting at the church would 
be held and we had always attended the revivals and tried 
to do our share in the work. And too, we could see and be 
with all our friends. 

“Pat came into the room one morning, where I was busy 
checking the linen for the supply room, and as I looked up 
at her the words came out: ‘Well now who have you had 
a run in with? You look as if there might be a cloudburst 
any moment.’ I put down the number of pillow cases I had 
counted and waited for her to explode over whatever was 
wrong. 

She said, “ ‘We have worked faithfully through all the 
summer and let the rest take their vacations, and now what 
do you think!’ 

“ ‘I cannot imagine; Pat, is there another vacation for 
someone else? Tell me. Don’t keep me waiting.’ 

“ ‘No. Super, called me into the office and told me she 
was very sorry, but we both could not have our vacations at 
the same time.’ 

“ ‘Pat, she promised us faithfully,’ I interrupted. ‘She 
can’t do this to us.’ 

“ ‘Yes, that is what I told her, too,’ Pat answered. 

“And what did she say?” Kassie asked. 


A BORN NURSE 


53 


“She became angry and said she was managing this hos¬ 
pital and we would take our vacation when she said so. 

“Jewel, knowing Pat as I did, I stood there biting my lips 
and wishing she would continue to tell me the details, and 
yet I was afraid of the results. Then I asked, ‘Pat, what did 
you tell her?’ 

“ ‘Well, after I told her how I felt about the way she had 
treated us, that we came here together and we were leaving 
together the second week in August for our vacation, one 
way or the other.’ 

“ ‘Pat, what have you done? You know the rules, if we 
leave training here.’ 

“ ‘Sure. I know the rules,’ Pat said. ‘What of it? Again 
I wonder why I let you talk me into this mess.’ 

“I felt the hot tears stinging my eyes. I thought, well, 
what is the use, knowing that Pat would tell Father every¬ 
thing when we got home, and that would be final—no more 
nurse’s training. Father was making exceedingly good money 
with the plantation, for there had been many acres added 
to the little farm we started out with; and there was the 
sawmill being very profitable and he owned all his hauling 
trucks. 

“I could almost hear the argument: that ‘there is no need 
for you girls to work out. There is plenty of work to over¬ 
see here on the plantation.’ Pat was a marvel at getting 
work out of the colored help. And there were the colored 
women to oversee. Now Father could well afford to pay us 
for this help, or give us a liberal weekly allowance. 

“Again I could see my dreams shattered. I spent most of 
the night in tears. Sleep refused to come to relieve me of 
the miserable thoughts that were going through my mind. 
I eventually came to the conclusion that there was another 
week yet, perhaps some good fortune would come my way. 
But no, the Super, was angry and this last week was full of 
woes. 

“The Super, came in one morning and said, ‘Kassie, re¬ 
port to the colored ward this morning. The male ward. 
You will have two men to nurse, that have just come in, and 


54 


A BORN NURSE 


when that is finished do the regular work you have been 
doing.’ 

“She had a spiteful way of turning up her nose, when 
she was trying to hurt some of the students. I did not argue 
with her. I kept thinking: if only I might be able to endure 
her training, some day maybe by chance I could treat stu¬ 
dent nurses as they were treated in most places. I know now 
she had no place among the angels of mercy. 

“Well, when I arrived in the colored ward I found Pat 
nursing the colored patients also. That was the orderly’s 
job every morning. I remember the orderly saying to us 
as he gathered up the trays that morning, ‘I sho’ is sorry 
dat Super, sho ain’t gwine have no home in hebbin iffen 
she don’t quit her sininn’* sho nuff, Miss Kassie.’ 

“That evening Pat came into our room and started pack¬ 
ing the trunks and I began packing, too, for I well knew it 
would be hopeless for me to try to stay for two reasons, 
and they were the Super, and Father. Well, I cried some 
more and decided I would go home and get married and 
forget about nursing, I had been so disappointed almost 
every way I had turned in trying to be a R.N. Anyway, 
this handsome fellow was waiting for me and we had for¬ 
given each other for dating, Earl and Addie, and I knew 
it was not true love I had felt for Earl, just an infatuation, 
although after I went home I received a few letters from 
him. Previously in the story I told you he had departed out 
of my life; as for me, he had, though as I said, I did think 
well of him. I wrote him I was marrying the boy friend at 
home. 

“Sister and I arrived home a day ahead of schedule and 
Mother had employed the help of three or four maids to 
get everything fixed just right for us. Oh, they were cooking 
and cleaning. Pat and I had stayed overnight with an Uncle 
and Aunt on our way home, so we felt refreshed after a 
wonderful supper and a good night’s rest. After greetings 
at home we put on our aprons and went to the kitchen 
where the cooking was going on. We cooked our favorite 
pies, custards and cakes. We figured that six sweet potato, 
six old-fashioned egg custards and my favorite coconut cake 


A BORN NURSE 


55 


with Pat’s chocolate cake would do to serve some of the 
young people who would be dropping in to see us, so after 
we did all the cooking we wished to do we left the kitchen 
to the maids. 

“Father was in for lunch and everything went along 
smoothly. He was surprised to see us home a little early and 
we talked through the meal. Kay, my youngest sister, and 
the only brother Ray, were busy asking questions and also 
getting us acquainted with the latest events around the 
neighborhood. 

“At the evening meal, the family was seated around the 
table and Pat began to tell about our training days and the 
tasks set before us. Father sat there with his fork half 
raised to his mouth with the food that he was going to eat. 
Pat was telling about having to fire the furnace and the big 
shovels we had to lift full of coal, and having to go to the 
basement in the inky darkness of night without any protec¬ 
tion. Oh, I saw the anger rising. I wanted so much for Pat 
to quit talking, but she went on to tell how we were treated 
about our vacation, and that if Mother and Dad had not 
sent us food, ham, sausage, cake and otRer foods, we would 
have starved. Father was getting angrier as Pat continued 
to tell that we .had to nurse the colored men. Father’s eyes 
were getting bigger and bigger and so angry he quit eating. 
He stormed out, ‘Your training days are over here and now 
—why that witch; why didn’t you have brains enough to 
come home before now? I am thoroughly disgusted with 
you!’ 

“I knew now that I was facing reality. My beautiful 
dreams snatched away—all that for which I had studied so 
tirelessly. I could still hear our friends say as we left the 
hospital among the good-bys, ‘Don’t give up your profes¬ 
sion; try somewhere else. You have gone through the worst 
part of it.’ We had learned the routine of the hospital and 
had made a host of friends. I felt as if I were choking, and 
the rest of me was dying. 

“Pat did everything to help me forget. We went to par¬ 
ties among the neighborhood young people* and I enjoyed 
all of them. But there was an emptiness. I could not be 


56 


A BORN NURSE 


happy so one day I asked Pat what she thought about ask¬ 
ing the Super, to take us back and let us finish our training. 
Her reply was that she would rather die than to go back 
and work herself to death for her; but for my sake we 
would go to the hospital close to home and try to enter. We 
honestly told that we had been in training before, and that 
it was against the rules to enter another training school, 
after starting in one. 

“Now that was settled. No more training. My pillow 
was wet with tears that night, my heart broken. 

“With the dawn of another day I knew that nursing must 
be forgotten, and I made up my mind to tell Khase that I 
was ready to settle down. He had been waiting for me to 
finish the training and now all that was over—why wait? 

“Mother helped me to cut and sew my wedding dress; it 
was a beautiful blue, and of a lovely material. I wished to 
be married at home, a quiet wedding in the parlor, with the 
altar before the fireplace and the room filled with flowers. 

“My great-grandmother, two Grandmothers and my 
Mother were seated in a row, but Father would not come 
into the room to see me married. Pat played the wedding 
march, and sang very sweetly, ‘I Love You Truly.’ The 
window blinds were drawn, and the lighted candles were 
giving forth their soft glow of light as I walked to the 
altar to meet the handsome young man of my choice, but 
there was a vacant place in my heart, a place for the pro¬ 
fession of nursing making me feel as if a sob were going 
to escape my lips. I wanted to feel ashamed—ashamed that 
I could not blot out the burning desire in my heart, even 
as the sacred vows were spoken. But no, I could not get 
away from the vision of a slender girl in a pure white uni¬ 
form and the cherished cap, doing the work that only a 
born nurse can do; I knew, however, that I must lock this 
empty room and seal up the secret therein, if my marriage 
was to be a success. Yes, and throw away the key to the 
lock. 

“The Minister that married Khase and me also baptized 
me and was my high school teacher for three years. He 
was very fatherly to me and I thought perhaps it would 


A BORN NURSE 


57 


help to have a talk with him over the matter. He had writ¬ 
ten. a Very sweet letter and good advice when I was in 
training. That was one of the times when I felt that some 
of the things I was told to do were most unbearable. He 
had written that he was happy to hear that I was attending 
Church and that would be a great help to me, for the soul 
needed medicine as well as the body. Not to let trifles stand 
in the way . . . and to stand true to the most exalted . . . 
Surely everything would come out right. He wrote: 

“ ‘Katharine, sincere prayer is answered. Not every time 
according to the way we plan. But for the better even 
though we do not understand at the time. Do not forget to 
pray.’ 

Jewel said, “ ‘A very sweet letter and good advice. Yes, 
indeed Kassie’.” Kassie continued, “Khase and I lived in the 
house with his parents for a while and they seemed to be 
very happy to have us with them. 

“A great crowd of people serenaded us, as Khase was 
well liked by the people of his home town. Everyone seemed 
anxious to help us along. We were married during the de¬ 
pression when work was scarce and wages worse. Some one 
suggested that I solicit orders among the neighbors for The 
Jones Co., which was doing a fairly good business in this 
little town, and I thought a set of dishes would be a won¬ 
derful premium to receive for the pleasant work of a few 
hours calling on our friends. Every one seemed eager to 
order something to help build the amount that I needed to 
get the dishes. They were beautiful, and I was so proud of 
the fact that I had worked for them. The ladies’ missionary 
society from one of the churches gave us a shower from 
which we received many useful things; my sister-in-law also 
gave a shower for us and we were well blessed with a num¬ 
ber of items needed to start keeping house. I was trying 
ever so much to be an extra good wife. I felt sure I would 
forget nursing if I kept busy doing things for the home and 
making friends; but in making friends there were those that 
had illness in the family sometimes, and perhaps there 
would be an invalid mother or father or some other mem¬ 
ber of the family; then there were the everyday accidents 


58 


A BORN NURSE 


that occur and I was called on because I had the nurses’ 
training therefor and I could not resist doing what I had 
been trained to do in every case, so the urge to nurse would 
seep back into my heart, no matter how much I fought 
against it. I knew to try to ignore the ill and helpless would 
be as useless as beating against a stone wall with my bare 
fist. 

“Work was getting so bad we decided to move back 
close enough to my home for Khase to work for my Father 
hauling lumber with one of the lumber trucks. Wages would 
not be very good; but there must be money on which to live; 
also there was to be a baby not so many months away, so we 
moved close to a canning plant where I found work, pre¬ 
paring peas. The work was not bad at all, for I could sit 
for ten hours, if I chose to do so. The little extra money I 
earned was spent for the clothes for the expected baby, 
and the Aunt I previously told you about, who was always 
taking out the hems of my dresses when I stayed with her 
to go to school, helped me to do the sewing for the first 
child; she was a grand seamstress, so the tiny little things 
were beautiful. I was thrilled as I anxiously awaited the 
advent of the baby. I wanted a girl, but when the big healthy 
nine pound baby boy was born, I was very, very happy: now 
I had something to occupy all my time—husband, home, and 
a beautiful baby. I had plenty of work, now to forget nurs¬ 
ing was all I had to do to be happy. 

Khase came home one evening and told me that we would 
be moving to the Shoals, and I was glad, for the Shoals was 
a pretty place to live, just a very small place, with surround¬ 
ing hills, a river, and a dam, for scenery and a cotton gin, 
grist mill, general store, blacksmith shop, and a little white 
church to inspire righteous living. 

“Good neighbors, white and colored, lived in this little 
town. The deep well, in my yard, furnished the store and 
many of the families in the neighborhood with icy-cold 
water, and I made friends very quickly as everyone that 
came for water had something friendly to say. 

“One of my very close neighbors was a young girl with 
two smaller sisters, living with their grandfather who ran 


A BORN NURSE 


59 


the general store and the children kept house for him. The 
oldest girl knew how to sew, so we spent many hours sew¬ 
ing and learning to cook from new recipes, fancy cookies 
being our specialty. Oh, I did enjoy that. 

“Time for preparing for spring gardens, sowing flower 
seeds, and rooting plant cuttings to beautify the home for 
the long summer months ahead. As fine a garden as I ever 
worked in grew there close by the river, then one sultry 
afternoon the dark clouds began to gather and in a short 
time a serious electrical storm was in progress, playing 
havoc with crops, and hail as large as goose eggs fell thick 
and fast. After the storm enough hailstones were gathered 
to furnish ice from Monday through Wednesday, the ice 
being placed in a box covered with a cloth. I have never 
seen the like of it before or since. 

“How about the gardens?” Jewel asked. “I suppose they 
were ruined too.” 

“Yes, but as you know garden seasons are long here in 
the south and most things were planted again and did well 
enough. 

“I had been living in this vicinity long enough for people 
to know my nursing ability and it was from bandaging 
Tommie’s cuts and bruises, to helping deliver the neighbor¬ 
hood babies. 

“Here again the urge to nurse had closed in about me. 
The smell of chloroform was perfume to my nostrils; walk¬ 
ing into a drugstore permeated with the smell of medicine 
made me feel wild to get back into my uniform again, while 
there was beginning to be nights when the tears would steal 
out to dampen my pillow and sleep coming to me in the wee 
hours of the night. 

“Perhaps if there was another child, I could not find 
time to help other people in their ills and stay away from 
things that brought memories so close. I thought that might 
help me to forget. So very soon a second child was on the 
way into the world. And about three months in pregnancy 
I was called to nurse one of my Grandmothers. She was 
very ill; Pat nursed her part of the time and I nursed the 
rest of the time. I experienced a torture which I cannot ex- 


60 


A BORN NURSE 


plain. I constantly thought of the child that was to come 
into the world, and how I prayed for it to be a girl, and to 
be a born nurse when it grew up, to fill the vacant place in 
the nursing profession which I had to relinquish.” 

“Well, Kassie, the child was a girl, now a young lady; 
how does she feel about nursing?” Jewel interrupted. 

“Jewel, not so many days ago, she expressed an earnest 
desire to study for the work to become a missionary.” 

“That is wonderful, Kassie. How did you receive the 
news this blow dealt?” Jewel asked. 

“Of course, I was terribly disappointed; but that is just 
one more disappointment to mark on the list for me. 

“She is another person with her own life to live, so my 
prayer is for her to make the most of it. If missionary work 
is her calling, may she be a full-fledged one—never let there 
be a thought attributed to me as standing in her way.” 

“Really, Kassie, it is most unbelievable for you to speak 
so calmly after the many years of secretly hoping and trust¬ 
ing that she would want to be a nurse; still, as you say, the 
list of disappointments in your life assists you to see the 
need of giving motherly advice, and let her take her place 
in the life she feels she is called to live. A twisted life is so 
often wasted. I am glad you can so well see ahead.” 

Kassie continued: “This child was a beautiful baby. Black 
hair, brown eyes and a very pleasant disposition; she seldom 
cried, and was never selfish with her toys. The old negro 
mammy who lived at the foot of the hill below me and who, 
as long as her health permitted, would climb the long hill 
to my house to see the little white doll-baby as she called her. 

“Late into the summer of that year, this poor negro, 
Mary, was very feeble and she would send one of the 
colored girls to inquire about the baby. She begged me to 
please bring the child for her to see; this I did several times 
before she passed away. A nurse has the urge to help in 
illness, regardless of color, creed, or race. And there is just 
no getting away from it. 

“One evening as I had watched the sun sink slowly in the 
west and dusk had settled over the countryside, I sat hold¬ 
ing my baby girl on my lap talking with my husband of the 


A BORN NURSE 


61 


day’s activities, which were usually the same, except the 
days we went fishing, some of the ladies coming by in a 
wagon and asking me to go fishing with them, and it was 
seldom I refused to go. 

“Getting back to this particular evening: as I sat there 
in the cool of the evening, I heard screams coming from 
Mary’s cabin; knowing that she was getting more feeble 
each day and expecting her to draw the last breath almost 
any time, I had made a hurried trip to the cabin about noon 
that day to carry a tray of food for her, as all the younger 
colored people were away at work. I must say here that 
back in the time I am speaking of, a job had to be taken 
care of, because wages were meager. Anyway, when I heard 
the screaming I jumped from my chair and placed the baby 
on my husband’s lap and raced down to the cabin across 
the pasture land. I arrived practically out of breath from 
running the distance, and I found the faithful old negro 
mammy gasping for breath. The room so full of colored 
people that I feel sure there was not an atom of fresh air 
in the whole house much less in that room. When I went 
through the door of the little cabin, a hush came over the 
room and the colored people backed against the wall that I 
might pass by to the bed. They no longer felt afraid. They 
knew I was a nurse and waited for me to tell them what to 
do; and the first thing was to ask for a straight-back chair 
and a pillow, while two negro men raised the patient to 
rest against the back of the chair placed in the bed, of 
course the pillow made a back-rest for her, then the thick 
board blinds were pushed back from the windows to let in 
the needed fresh air. 

“Mary began to breathe easier as the fresh air came in 
and because of the way she was propped up in the bed. She 
looked at me with appreciation in her eyes, although she 
could not thank me in words. As I started to leave I left 
instructions as to what to do and above all things not so 
many to gather in her room at one time, and to keep the 
window blinds open, and I was surprised to find that they 
had been kept open all the rest of that night. Mary lived 
several days and enjoyed the simple dishes of food I pre- 


62 


A BORN NURSE 


pared for her, for which I had been well paid, as she had 
looked after the children when I had gone fishing, and never 
expected more than the clothing that I gave to her and her 
family.” 

“Back a few years ago the colored people really had to 
depend on help, did they not?” Jewel asked. 

“Yes,” Kassie replied. “Work was difficult to get and 
pay very little, as I said before; every penny of the dollar 
had to be accounted for among the laboring class of people, 
regardless of color.” 

Kassie continued: “For about two years, Khase had to 
struggle for enough money to keep out of debt. He took 
care of the cotton gin, and did carpenter work and clerked 
in the general store all the extra time he could get. 

“Well, we would move again: work at the Shoals was not 
as plentiful as it had been and something had to be done, 
so we moved back to one of Father’s farms, and we were 
going to try to make a better living by Khase hauling lum¬ 
ber for Father again and hiring a wage hand to farm for 
us. I felt happy for I knew how Father had started out so 
poor and had made a small fortune in a few years; but for 
us the wage hand proved so sorry Khase had to give up 
hauling lumber and do the work on the farm himself. I 
also went to the field every day with the two children to 
help in planting the cotton, corn, peanuts, peas and all the 
work pertaining to the farm. How I hated to find myself 
picking cotton again! I would think of the day I started 
away for nurses’ training—how sure I was that my cotton¬ 
picking days were over. I loved my family very dearly and 
wanted us to get on in life before the children were old 
enough to realize what it meant to be so poor. To this end 
I would try to work all the more to put aside meager earn¬ 
ings, but there was always something to pay for to take all 
the tiny savings I could manage to get from selling eggs and 
cream off the farm. Then my darling little girl took sick with 
whooping cough, and an intestinal disease. My Father fairly 
worshiped the child and when he found her so ill he rushed 
her to the hospital as we did not have a way of transporta¬ 
tion. I stayed with her for two weeks and two days and I 


A BORN NURSE 


63 


asked God to spare her, I vowing to try and bring her up 
for His use. As I watched the signs of life coming back little 
by little, I thought of Father wanting her to be a movie star, 
although when I was growing up he was so against going 
to shows. Now I wondered if it was wrong for him to wish 
so much vanity upon her. 

“When time came that she was well enough to want to 
be up again, there was the job of learning to walk all over 
again. 

“Now that my baby was getting well, and I could 
see how far we were behind with the farm work, I felt ill 
myself. Chop cotton, pick cotton. And the boll weevil mak¬ 
ing a nuisance of itself; and staying there at the hospital 
smelling whiffs of ether and seeing the white uniforms as 
they were worn with so much dignity, darting in the door 
and out again with trays of medicine to make some one well 
and to ease the suffering of others, so when I looked out 
of the window at the long rows of growing vegetation that 
any farmer should have been proud of, I felt the sobs stop¬ 
ping in my throat and threatening to choke me! How much 
longer would I be able to endure being haunted by the pro¬ 
fession of nursing? 

“The cotton had to be picked if we were to reap the 
few measly dollars so badly needed, regardless of how I 
felt about my life. I suppose I should have been thankful 
for the tiny bit of luck coming our way that fall, for the 
owner of the cotton gin needed Khase to take care of gin¬ 
ning and we were furnished plenty of colored help in ex¬ 
change for his work at the gin and so of course I had to go 
to the field, and carry my babies, to see that the cotton was 
picked clean. Then at the close of the day I had to weigh in 
all that had been picked and keep the time for all of them. 

“The last year of our farming was nothing short of a 
nightmare. We had schemed to save enough money to buy 
our own mule and wagon. We thought progress was being 
made; for with our own mule and wagon we could haul our 
produce into town without having to pay toll, and that 
would save several pennys. 

“The mule proved to be about the most stubborn one in 


64 


A BORN NURSE 


the State of Georgia. She would run away without the 
slightest notice and jump creeks of water, and we would 
have to give chase a half day at the time to catch and hitch 
her to the plow; again then there were times when we would 
be able to catch her, and suddenly she decided to just stand 
still and not budge one inch. 

“Now that we had a way of transportation, with the mule 
and wagon, we were expected to be at Sunday School every 
Sunday. 

“One Sunday morning we dressed in our very best clothes 
and started out to church in the wagon. We had renamed 
the mule Panic as we thought she had earned it. And this 
pretty morning after a heavy rain had fallen the day before 
and washed the countryside clean, and the air smelled fresh 
and good, and the creeks were swollen and muddy, Panic 
started out on very good behavior. I thought this must be 
her very best Sunday manners. Clip, clip, clippety-clip, 
sounded like music to my ears. Then the creek, it was not 
very deep, and Panic went wading in, and toward the middle 
of the stream she decided to jump over the rest of the way, 
but she jumped only far enough to jerk me out of the back 
of the wagon, setting me down flat in the muddy water! I 
felt angry enough to shoot her on the spot! I got back into 
the wagon, and the mule decided to stand there in the water. 
Khase used the whip, but Panic would merely wiggle her 
ears, and then kick at the wagon. After so long a time it got 
funny to me. Khase finally got so disgusted with her he 
rolled his Sunday trousers legs above the knees and waded 
in the creek and tried to coax her by leading her, but no, she 
did not wish to go at all. Khase told me to take the whip and 
give her a stripe or two, to get her started and he would 
lead her to the other side and turn around to go back home. 
I relished the idea of giving her a stripe or two. Yet when 
I gave her the first one, she made an unexpected leap for the 
other side and left Khase sitting in the muddy water. Well, 
we got turned around then Panic crossed the stream of 
water and headed for home in her best manners again.” 

“Kassie, did you sell her when you left the farm?” Jewel 
asked. 


A BORN NURSE 


65 


“Yes,” Kassie replied. “She was sold at auction. And 
we got all we paid for her and more. She was sleek and fat 
and a very pretty animal as far as mules are concerned, in 
my view'. 

“The last year on the farm we raised a very profitable 
crop of peas, and Mother helped me by taking care of my 
two children a lot of the time and I was free to be of help 
in picking peas. 

“The thought of the money we had made clear on the 
crop of peas had helped me to want to stay on the farm as 
I had a very pretty place to live in the country. I had planted 
shrubbery and Khase had sealed the house and enlarged the 
kitchen, and purchased wire from a mail order house to 
fence in pasture land. Khase had intended to buy the farm 
from Father ever since the time we had moved there, for 
Father had more land now than he knew what to do with; 
but he came by one day on his way home from town and 
told me he would not sell the place, but that he had got¬ 
ten a good job for Khase in town, stating that one of my 
sisters and her husband wanted the farm if we moved. 

“I felt so angry; I knew we were being pushed out of 
our farm home—that was how I felt at the time. Father 
carried our family home with him that evening. I did not 
wish to go because I was hurt very deeply over what had 
been said. 

“The next morning, my Mother asked me if Khase was 
going to take the job that Pa had gotten for him. I started 
crying and saying that we did not have any choice. Sure 
we would get out so sister could have the home that we 
had so faithfully worked with. I had set out fruit trees, and 
all the flowers made the home look like an old-fashioned 
painting. 

“Mother tried to reason with me, but I could not see the 
point she was trying to argue. Father was only trying to 
make work less for me by wanting Khase to take a job in 
town. And he did take a fairly good paying job with a build¬ 
ers supply company, and as I got everything ready to move, 
taking down curtains and packing different items carefully 
and shedding tears most of the time, feeling sorry for my- 


66 


A BORN NURSE 


self, and going back over the days when I was in training. 
How silly it all seems to me now, and if I could have seen 
into the future, how I would have fought to do the thing I 
wanted to do most of all in life! 

“Moving over again, and into a nice roomy house, with 
a wonderful garden spot during that summer from which I 
canned three hundred cans of vegetables and took in sewing 
for extra money, and in the fall I picked out pecan kernals 
and that brought in extra pennies or exchanged them for 
merchandise in the store. With all the different work to do I 
got through the year well enough. But the next spring I be¬ 
gan to grow miserable thinking of the uniform. Pat was 
working for a doctor and told me she was going to start 
work in the hospital near home as an undergraduate. 

“I would fall asleep at night to dream of being in my 
uniform—and the disappointment when I awoke to find 
another day of housekeeping! 

“If Pat was going to the hospital to work why shouldn’t 
I try for the job she had here in town? I applied for it and 
went to nursing very soon. Mother cared for the children 
until I could find a maid for them. 

“Doctor K. told me he certainly was in need of a nurse 
to help with his surgical patients. So many of them were too 
poor to afford hospital care, and yet there had to be opera¬ 
tions done in the homes. 

“An idea was beginning to form in my mind as he talked: 
Why could I not be the nurse to help in those cases? 

“He went on to say that there were two R.N.’s to help 
with the operations, but a nurse was needed to stay with a 
patient for a while after an operation and then it was neces¬ 
sary in some cases for a nurse to stay for two or three weeks 
at a time. 

“You know I was thrilled when he voiced his approval 
of my fixing up a room in my home to take care of such 
cases as might be able to come there for an operation 
and not costing out of reason for the service. Ah! How 
happy I was—uniform, cap, helping the needy—and the 
smell of ether again! Oh, I had lots and lots of patients to 


A BORN NURSE 


67 


tell me they appreciated the idea of the hospital room in 
my home. 

“Many times we were so rushed, and then again several 
days would elapse without a patient. I would get the house 
all refreshed with clean curtains, and all clean linen during 
those days. 

“Doctor K. had purchased a motor to generate electricity 
for lights and when we had a case of operating out in the 
rural district where only kerosene lamps were afforded he 
carried the motor along and good lighting was to be had in 
a very few minutes. The operating table and the motor 
were regular equipment in Doctor K.’s car. 

“The Two R.N.’s, Doctor K. and I would travel for 
many miles into several counties to perform operations in 
the homes and, of course, I was an undergraduate; because 
of that, I had to endure the sting of being in second place. 
Nevertheless, Doctor K. assured me that I was capable of 
doing the work of any of the R.N.’s he had assisting him. 
Jewel, I do not mean by that to sound like a braggart, I’m 
not boasting; it is only that the wound in my heart healed 
leaving such a deep scar when I was taken out of nurses’ 
training that I feel I was cheated out of my rights. 

“After an operation was over, the two R.N.’s and Doc¬ 
tor K. would return home; however the undergraduate was 
trusted to administer hypodermics and pain pills. It was 
necessary at times for me to depend upon my training and 
rely upon my own knowledge in cases of an emergency, be¬ 
ing without any means of communicating with the doctor in 
many instances, trusting in God to guide me. I believe nurs¬ 
ing patients, when God was the only one to help, caused me 
to live closer to and depend on Him. 

“I well remember the case of a man well up in his years. 
He and his good wife lived very far in the deep pine forest 
with an invalid son, who had had an unfortunate accident 
on a hunting trip in his early years. He did not speak more 
than a few words in the course of a day, and his mother, 
being old and feeble, I was rather lonely. 

“The old gentleman was operated on and was doing 


68 


A BORN NURSE 


excellently, so I planned to stay one week if he continued to 
improve. 

“One afternoon I decided that the patient was doing 
fine and as I had been on duty day and night with him, and 
he being heavy to lift around, I was getting somewhat tired, 
so I took a hasty sponge bath in the wash basin out in the 
kitchen and lay down across a bed to catch a few winks of 
sleep, after telling his wife to awaken me if I was needed. 
It was a hot, sultry, sticky afternoon; even the crickets that 
had kept me company, especially at night, had quit their 
chirping. I felt a storm must be in the making and I thought 
perhaps it would hit later in the evening or around mid¬ 
night, so an hour or two of sleep would help to keep me 
calm. I cannot quite explain the loneliness I felt as I dropped 
off to sleep. 

“Aunt Minnie (as I called the lady of the house while I 
stayed there), called me at dusk, all having gone well up to 
this time. She told me that Joe, her husband, was talking 
very queerly and that I had better get up and see what was 
wrong with him. I arose and hastily put on a fresh uniform. 
One glimpse at the patient told me he was a very ill man. 
Doctor K. was not due to call again for another day, and 
there was neither a neighbor, telephone, nor any way of 
transportation even if there had been some one to send for 
help; and, too, the storm was making progress. The heat- 
lightning was beginning to look serious, and thunder was 
being heard getting close. 

“Mr. Joe was delirious. He was raving that he was being 
killed. He thought some one had taken out a lot of insurance 
on him and was trying to kill him. I was the only one to do 
anything for him, and the task of trying to keep him in bed 
was getting beyond my power, while the electrical storm 
had broken in all its fury, rain coming in gusts, with the 
wind, the lightning flashing across the sky lighting up the 
outside. 

“Aunt Minnie, being exhausted, had laid down across an¬ 
other bed in the room with the patient. I eventually suc¬ 
ceeded in giving the patient an injection—but how he fought 
me, thinking I was trying to kill him! After the storm sub- 


A BORN NURSE 


69 


sided and the patient had quieted down and went to sleep 
I stepped outside the door for a breath of fresh air, and to 
ask God to have mercy on this very ill man and for guidance 
for myself. 

“After I had prayed, I looked up into the sky to see a 
beautiful moon beginning to shine through the remaining 
broken clouds of the storm that had rained itself out or had 
passed on to somewhere else. Tears gathered in my eyes as 
I felt that God was looking down upon His children and 
seeing their needs just as surely as the beautiful moon was 
shining through the clouds. 

“I went back into the room feeling better and the patient 
was somewhat improved when he awoke. I spent seventy- 
two hours watching, waiting and praying. Doctor K. did not 
get back on the day expected, but when he did make an¬ 
other visit Mr. Joe was out of danger. The Doctor looked 
over the patient’s chart then patted me on the shoulder, say¬ 
ing: ‘Kassie, I firmly believe only prayer has kept this man 
alive. If I could have known the condition of his appendix 
before the operation, I would not have taken the chance of 
sticking a knife in his belly to remove it.’ 

“I stayed with the patient eighteen days, so Doctor K. 
gave me leave to go home and rest for a while, as there was 
a delivery case coming up for me to take care of in my 
home. » 

“My husband was being very patient, and was trying to 
appear happy that I was engaged in the work which I loved. 
He told me many times that he was sorry I did not get to 
continue my training and graduate as a R.N. I thought he 
thoroughly understood my great disappointment, so I would 
not have to worry about him getting restless for me to set¬ 
tle down and devote all my time to housekeeping. He al¬ 
ways tried to help with the children, and many times he also 
saw that the maid kept the hospital room spick and span, 
as in this case. 

“The patient and the new baby were to stay in my home 
for fourteen days; but the time had to be shortened two 
days and the patient sent home because of another emer¬ 
gency operation. A young girl required an operation at 


70 


A BORN NURSE 


once, so Doctor K. sent word for me to be ready to go in an 
hour’s time. It surely was very nice for Khase to see that 
the maid did the cleaning of the room for me. 

“Doctor K., the two R.N.’s and the circulating nurse, 
which was myself, arrived at the home of the patient short¬ 
ly after noon and immediately performed a successful opera¬ 
tion. 

“The young patient lived with an older brother and fam¬ 
ily consisting of a wife and a nine-month-old baby. This 
family had moved on a farm to work as share-croppers; 
they had plenty to eat, such as peas, pork, and corn for mak¬ 
ing corn meal, all of it being stored in one room of the 
house. 

“Unfortunate events had kept this family very poor. We 
had operated on the brother of this patient only one year 
previously, and there was now the added expenses of the 
new baby on the farm before moving on this one. The land¬ 
lord was generous in helping himself to more than was due 
him; so now there was a new doctor’s bill confronting them, 
which could not be paid until crops were harvested. Any¬ 
way, the women folk had worked faithfully in the fields, but 
the house was given little attention. There were no chairs 
to sit on at the table where meals were eaten so we sat on 
nail-kegs, and drank coffee from bowls, because they did 
not have cups and saucers. 

“The two bedrooms consisted of one double bed and a 
single bed. The patient slept on the single bed and the wife, 
baby and I slept on the double bed, the man sleeping across 
the hall. Anyway the baby kept me wet, the bedbugs kept 
me awake. I often wondered why I had to keep working as 
a nurse when I had a good, comfortable bed to sleep on at 
home. But I believe I do see why now, as I contemplate the 
convalescents’ home I am striving to build; surely God in¬ 
tended for me to see the need, and to go through the hard¬ 
ships and suffering with the poverty-stricken as well as the 
very wealthy so I could see the necessity of a home of this 
kind. 

“I have suffered heartaches from idle gossipers, who 
would say that I must be crazy to work in such homes as 


A BORN NURSE 


71 


some of the poorer class of people I have nursed, having 
such a wonderful husband, and children—remarks that cut 
me to my heart. 

“How I prayed for guidance, and for God to keep my 
family safe while I was away; surely He must have heard 
my pleas, for I certainly have three healthy, robust young¬ 
sters, two of whom are entering the adult stage of life, and 
a small baby. 

“I have nursed charity cases, where there was not one 
penny that could be offered in payment for services render¬ 
ed; in others I have been paid for my work in peas, beans, 
meal, and chickens—wages were very low, so an under¬ 
graduate nurse was one of those who received small wages. 
Not only the duties of a nurse had to be performed in many 
cases, for I have had to cook for the family, mop kitchens, 
bathe children, and perform countless other tasks that con¬ 
fronted me in many of the homes. 

“One charity case provoked me, yet it wrings my heart¬ 
strings to think of it. Everyone’s downfall is caused by some 
one’s carelessness or greed. And just a word to lift up one’s 
life, or to make it easier would take such a fraction of time. 

“Spring of the year was here again and Mother Earth 
was bringing forth her beautiful flowers and adorning green 
dress. As I was coming home, counting the blessings of the 
privilege to live in the beauty of the spring time, I must see 
if the tulips and the hyacinths were being taken care of; 
several bulbs had been planted last fall and they should be 
a pretty sight in early spring. My mind wandered back to 
the thirteen-year-old boy that I had left that day. He had 
been very ill. He came of a family that had a nice home and 
there were plants and shrubs to grace the lawn. I was paid 
in cash for my services on that job—the money being in 
my uniform pocket. That boy had many blessings: Christian 
parents, a room and bed all his own. Ah, it made the air smell 
sweeter as I breathed to think of this cleanly home of love. 
But as I reached home there was Doctor K. waiting for me 
to get home and don a fresh uniform—an emergency case; 
the two R.N.’s were ready in the car, the motor for generat- 


72 


A BORN NURSE 


ing light, and the operating table; I knew it was to be a 
rural district case. 

“I scribbled a note to be given to Khase, and off to 
operate again. 

“Doctor K. cleared his throat, as was his habit when 
there was unpleasant news to break to us. He began, ‘Girls, 
this is a charity case, and there will not be any money for us. 
This place is going to be very filthy, and you have not been 
in one that is as poverty-stricken as this.’ So I asked Doc¬ 
tor K. to stop in a little village that I might buy a sack of 
apples to eat, for if the place was to be as bad as he said, 
eating would be difficult for me. 

“We arrived at the place they called home. It was a 
two-room cabin with shutter windows, and a porch decayed 
to the extent of caving in; picking careful steps to enter 
the room where the patient was we saw just beyond the 
doorway, on the floor, a deformed child—I thought it was 
a child but later learned the poor wreck of humanity was 
more than twenty years of age. The filthy, ragged quilt be¬ 
neath him served as a bed day and night; on the other side 
of the doorway was an old-fashioned bed covered by a dirty 
patch-work quilt. There were no sheets to be used on the 
patient’s bed, nor on the old-fashioned bed where the poor, 
wasted body of the father of the family lay. I don’t think 
he ever knew that we were there or what was going on. 
Doctor K. later told me the father at one time had worked 
very hard for his family; that he had no education whatso¬ 
ever therefore shrewd and greedy landlords had made him 
their prey. Two girls and a host of boys, the mother and a 
grandmother made up the family. 

“I am getting ahead of the story. The patient we went 
to operate on was a young girl about sixteen years of age, 
and a beautiful girl, with even white teeth, lay clutching at 
a quilt and gritting her teeth in pain. Her bed was of metal, 
and filthy as it could be—she had made a mistake, and her 
sister’s husband was the father of her baby. 

“The infant had been dead for quite a while and the 
operation was the last resort to save her life. The generator 
was set up so the lights were ready as the operating table 


A BORN NURSE 


73 


was being prepared. We needed another cover of some 
kind to place over the patient so I went into the kitchen and 
asked the mother where I could get a cover for her. She 
walked over to a manger that was filled with pine needles 
and shucks (corn husk). This manger, built along the side 
of the wall, served as a bed for the grandmother and the 
rest of the children. The mother handed me a filthy piece 
of blanket with which to cover the patient. We had to leave 
the door open to keep from suffocating from the odor of 
urine and filth in the house. This girl’s sister had left the 
house weeping; she had married and tried to keep a decent 
house; she wanted to live better than the family was trying 
to live. Her dress was rough dried, but clean, then her hus¬ 
band got her sister pregnant. We could hear her screaming 
as she went down close to the creek in a grove of wild plum 
trees, while her husband was run away from the door sev¬ 
eral times. He would be standing there looking as we were 
operating. Doctor K. eventually got so angry with him that 
the last time he was run away we did not see him the rest 
of the evening, but one time I saw eyes peering at us through 
some big cracks in the wall from the inside of a pantry or 
closet of some kind. 

“I felt nauseated, not only from the penetrating odor of 
the filthy foom. I kept asking myself why . . . why . . . why 
do such things happen? People falling below the standard 
of dogs that roam the alleys! Here, this mother was letting 
these young children see what was going on in the operating 
room! While the father had been ill over a long period of 
time, no doubt but that the condition of the family contribut¬ 
ed to his ill health, going from bad to worse each year. I 
told Doctor K. I would go get some sanitary bed clothes to 
put on the beds, but he said, ‘My dear girl, that would only 
be a waste of your money. The county has tried to help, 
and a charity or two had tried giving them sheets and cloth¬ 
ing only to have them worn to shreds without any of them 
ever being washed. These people are beyond helping; I have 
administered medicine and given of my time to this family, 
and I feel that I am in a position to say what I have just 
said. In addition to add to the bitterness of being cheated 


74 


A BORN NURSE 


out of his daily wages, or share in the crops, this man mar¬ 
ried a slovenly woman whose grandmother was once a neat, 
clean woman; she lived in the cabin several miles up the 
road where, each year, she planted flowers around the 
cabin, and in blooming seasons it looked as though it had 
been lifted and dropped into the middle of a flower garden, 
but now she has to beg for stale bread and cakes from a 
truck that passes through the district once a week.’ 

“Jewel, the day we were there the old grandmother came 
in bringing something in a gunny sack on her back. Doctor 
K. informed me that she had met the truck over at the forks 
of the road. He told me all this as we were going home. 
That night, when I tried to close my eyes and sleep, I could 
still see the mattress on that bed made of burlap sacks and 
stuffed with corn husk, with old dress shirts spread out for 
a sheet. I have often wondered where those dress shirts 
came from, as I did not notice any of the three carry in a 
bundle as we went in. I left there the sack of apples that I 
had taken along, the good doctor laughingly stated he 
knew I was not going to remain with this patient any longer 
than the rest of them stayed, and that was only until the 
patient reacted. 

“I felt ill for two or three days after this which made 
Khase so disgusted that he said he thought such things 
would give me my fill of nursing. He would say, ‘Dad- 
blame it, Kassie, let people help themselves; I want you at 
home.’ 

“I had laughed at him one time, which made him real 
angry. It happened in this way: I went on a case a long dis¬ 
tance into the country, expecting to return home with the 
doctor on his next visit, but the patient had taken a sudden 
turn for the worse and I was asked to remain for a few 
more days. The children in this home had asked a lot of 
questions about my children, and wanted to give them a 
half-grown kitten, which was as black as night, so when 
Doctor K. started home the children persuaded him to 
carry the black kitten home for me, so when Doctor K. 
drove up to my home, Khase came out to meet me—I had 
been gone for several days—and when he got close to the 


A BORN NURSE 


75 


car and saw I was not in it, the doctor said, ‘Well, Khase, 
now this is a H— of a note, expecting your wife home, but 
instead she sent you a black cat.’ He thoroughly enjoyed 
teasing Khase, and later when I laughed at him too, he got 
angry and wanted me to quit nursing then and there. 

“Well, now, that this interference had started again the 
restlessness for me to stay home, it would only be a matter 
of time until the entire family would be persuading me to 
give up this foolishness of nursing as they called it, and I 
could already sense the tension building up around me, which 
disturbed me very much. I would try, all over again, to 
weigh the question in the balance: My family, were they 
receiving an injustice? Here is the argument that went on 
in my mind—<they had nourishing food, good clothes, 
healthy bodies, clean beds, an exceptionally good maid to 
care for them; then I would argue the fact with myself that 
the maid could not give them a mother’s love; which was 
certainly true enough, though sometimes I wonder as I 
look around me if too much of mother’s love can be a 
handicap in later years to a person’s life. Oh, don’t get me 
wrong. A child must have love to properly develop its life 
is my belief. But what is love? The age-old word—love! 
Just how large an area does the word cover? Then the word 
charity, which means love, begins at home . . . how I prayed 
God to give me wisdom and guidance in determining this 
matter. I could close my eyes and see the wasted form of the 
poor old man lying there on the filthy bed where we had 
operated on the sixteen-year-old girl—a home without love 
—a home where there was not a mosel of nourishing food 
to give the ill father of the family who had labored so faith¬ 
fully yet so cruelly cheated, because some one failed to have 
love in his heart when it would have, perhaps, been the 
keeping of the family from falling to the level of stray dogs. 

“My mind wandered back to a family to which I was 
called to nurse the mother of the home. All the children of 
my family had gathered at my parents’ home for a reunion 
and barbecue. We were celebrating Father’s birthday, and 
a wonderful time we were having when Doctor K. sent 
word for me to get ready to go on a case with him, and of 


76 


A BORN NURSE 


course my family felt that this foolishness was always inter¬ 
fering with my life. 

“I was ready when the doctor came for me, and we 
traveled a mile or so to this home. The patient was very ill, 
and having convulsions. It was another month before the 
baby was to be born, this one would be the sixth child. The 
work for all the family had proven too much for her. 

Doctor K. left instructions for me to care for her, asking 
me to stay for one week with her. During the first evening 
the patient was not reacting at all as she should so I dressed 
the children who were too small to dress themselves for bed, 
then I asked for the family Bible to read some scripture, 
but there was no answer until the mother feebly told me 
they did not own one, after having been married a long 
number of years. 

The little books that had been given to me by a very dear 
Christian of the Methodist faith called “The Upper Room,” 
from one of which I read Bible scripture to the family then 
knelt by my chair as we had prayer. 

“Day after day as the patient was improving she became 
a very loveable person. Although the others had helped a 
great deal, I did all I could to be of help, so when I started 
home she took me by the hand and said, ‘I feel that my life 
has been made better by knowing you.’ 

“Tears stung my eyes as I thought of that beautiful re¬ 
ward—the expression a tribute to the efforts I had striven 
for. They remain fresh in my mind even as old Lucifer him¬ 
self seems to be lashing at the very walls of my heart to tear 
away charity, sacrifice, and love for my fellowman. ’Tis 
true, at one time in my life if there had not been a power 
more mighty than merely the stubborn will-power of my 
own I feel sure I would have quit nursing once and for all. 

“Kassie, if the experience is any worse than the case of 
the sixteen-year-old girl, I just don’t think I can bear to 
listen to it. I have been thinking of that deformed person 
lying there on the floor, day and night—did the family feed 
him?” 

“Jewel, I am a bit sorry you thought to ask me that, for 


A BORN NURSE 


77 


I cannot help shedding bitter tears when I think of what I 
saw that day. 

You remember I told you the grandmother begged for 
stale bread and cakes from the truck driver of a baking 
company?” 

“Yes,” Jewel replied. 

“Well, when the grandmother came in with the gunny 
sack (burlap sack) and placed it on the floor, one of the 
children got a handful of rolls from it, sat down close to this 
deformed person and gave him a whole roll which he 
grabbed and put all of it in his mouth at one time. This poor 
wreck of humanity had a very long neck and he was swal¬ 
lowing without chewing it and, Jewel, I wanted to cry out 
for God to have mercy! It reminded me of a serpent swal¬ 
lowing a frog.” 

“I am so sorry, Kassie, I asked you that question; for¬ 
give me. But, please, I want to hear what nearly caused you 
to give up nursing.” 

“This is the story, Jewel: An elderly lady who had passed 
through life without the blessings of a family, and was now 
suffering from an incurable disease had long ago decided 
that people wanted to shun her, and she had stayed alone so 
much that, so to speak, she was soured on the world. 

“One of her neighbors came to me one day and said she 
wished that I could get Aunt Julia to take a bath and change 
clothes. It was summer time, and to see her so dirty as she 
walked around in her yard was getting on the neighbor’s 
nerves. Some of the neighbors had tried to help her, but she 
refused to let any one do anything for her, the odor from 
her house was getting to be unbearable. This case was going 
to require some planning. Anyway, the W.P.A. was employ¬ 
ing a colored girl to keep the house clean. 

“Time marched on, and I visited Aunt Julia a couple of 
times that summer and fall. The colored girl was there on 
both occasions, I lingered only a short while each time be¬ 
cause during the summer days I desired to be at home at¬ 
tending to the canning of vegetables, fruits, jellies, soups, 
etc., that had to be done, as these things meant wholesome, 
nourishing food for my family during the winter season. 


78 


A BORN NURSE 


“On New Year’s day of each year I make a special effort 
to do a kind deed for someone; so, on this New Year’s day 
the kind deed was to prepare a nice tray of food and carry 
it to Aunt Julia for her noon-day meal. I entered the house 
and said, ‘Good morning, Aunt Julia. How are you today? 
I have prepared a nice dinner for my family today and 
thought perhaps you might enjoy a tray of it yourself.’ She 
bowed her head and thanked God for the food I had 
brought, then asked me to read some scripture from the 
Testament I had laid on the corner of the tray. She asked 
me to read her favorite passages of scripture, for which she 
thanked me over and over. I told her if she would like me 
to do so I would be glad to bring her a tray of food often. 
She said, ‘Please; I cannot thank you enough. It has been 
so long since anyone has thought of me, though I cannot 
blame anyone. I know of no living relative on which to call 
on for assistance.’ ‘Aunt Julia, I said, I am a nurse, and will 
be very glad to help you.’ 

“That was the beginning of a long and dreadful experi¬ 
ence for me. For when I carried the next tray of food to 
her, I asked how she was feeling, and she replied that she 
felt very weak—and that was my cue to bring up the deli¬ 
cate subject that had rather worried me; so I began: ‘Aunt 
Julia, you know what would make you feel much better?’ 

“ ‘What on earth could make me feel better, child?’ she 
asked. I replied, ‘A good hot bath and a rub down with 
alcohol.’ 

“ ‘Then give me a bath,’ she said hastily. 

“I found a tub and filled it with water to heat on the 
kitchen stove and proceeded to gather up clean linen for the 
bed and a clean gown for her. I told her she should lie down 
for a while after taking a hot bath, for I knew that bath 
was going to be a thorough job! The task was begun by re¬ 
moving shoes and stockings, then a long-sleeved ragged 
sweater which I laid aside without giving it any special no¬ 
tice, except to note that it was very dirty, then off came the 
dress, and then one petticoat, two petticoats, three, four, 
the fifth one she asked to keep on, as she never pulled off all 
her clothes at any time; but I was going to see that she got 


A BORN NURSE 


79 


a real bath so I took off the fifth one and all of her under¬ 
clothes, draping her in a sheet, then seating her in a chair 
I began a task that, if it could have been seen, would have 
made our town people bow their heads in shame! The 
colored girl employed by the W.P.A. was receiving her 
weekly wages, but was not doing any work for the money 
she received. 

“Basin after basin of clean water was used, but the fat on 
her stomach was badly wrinkled, which I had to pull open 
so that the sutty filth could be soaked before I could remove 
it and get her cleansed. 

“Thinking of the condition her body had been in, I de¬ 
cided that I would wash her head the next day, as the bath 
was about all she was able to stand in one day. I asked her 
if she wanted her hair combed before lying down to rest. 
She said, ‘Child, my head is so sore I can’t have it combed.’ 

“I thought it was the disease spreading onto her head. 
I had noticed queer looking places on her scalp as if the 
skin was pushed up in places, appearing like paths running 
in and out of the scabby places; but I did not examine closely 
her head that day, and after putting her to bed, I went home. 
In the meantime some one reported to the W.P.A. that I 
had given Aunt Julia a bath, and that the condition in which 
I had found her might cause trouble for someone. I had not 
noticed, however, the real trouble: I was called by one of 
the town ladies who asked if I knew that Aunt Julia had body 
lice. Well, I wanted to cry, but there was no time for that— 
I just wanted to fight, but did not know who to attack. I had 
accepted the challenge from one of the neighbors who did 
not believe I could persuade the old lady to let me give her 
a bath. As soon as I got through talking on the phone I went 
straight to Aunt Julia’s to see for myself if it were true; she 
had put on the old sweater that I had pulled off the day that 
I bathed her. I walked over to the window and raised the 
blind to the top, to enable me to see. And what a sight! Yes, 
yes, yes! body lice so numerous that they fell off the sleeve 
of the sweater! 

“It came back vividly to me of having seen the scratches 


80 


A BORN NURSE 


on Aunt Julia’s back and the queer looking places on her 
head. 

“The lady from the W.P.A. office came in shortly after 
I arrived and said she did not know Aunt Julia had gotten 
into such a serious condition. She went to the drugstore and 
purchased plenty of larkspur lotion, and asked me to help 
cut and saturate her hair with the medicine. After a period 
of letting her hair stay covered, we washed it and bathed 
her in a disinfectant, taking her old clothes out and burning 
them, new ones being bought by the W.P.A. 

“Cleaning and disinfecting the house was left to the 
W.P.A. workers, so I went home at once to see if I had car¬ 
ried the vermin to my children. Khase came home from work 
that evening and found I had cut off the beautiful blond curls 
from our daughter’s head and had it tied up with a mixture 
of kerosene and grease. My hair was very thin and short, so 
I just saturated it and tied it up with a cloth. I was happy 
in not finding any lice on my son’s head, but taking precau¬ 
tion I gave it a treatment also. 

“I told Khase what had happened, upon his inquiry as to 
the headwraps; he reminded me of a poor little whipped 
puppy. He sat down on a chair that was close to hand, his 
lips parted and chin quivering—how I craved for him to 
say something mean to me . . . that was the only time I 
really wanted him to say something in the way of reproach. 

“Very humbly he asked me to see if he had them, too, so 
I put larkspur lotion on his head as he did not want an 
application of kerosene and grease on it. We stayed close 
to home for a few days, going through everything in the 
house, and burning disinfecting candles. How Khase and I 
worked! And he never gave me an ugly word about bring¬ 
ing the pest home with me. I was hurt very deeply and I 
felt real angry, deciding that now I would break off from 
nursing, and forget it sure—Just a few more months. As to 
rural district nursing I would forget it, too, and only keep 
patients in my home for a while, and eventually get out of 
it entirely. I felt that enough was enough, as I had been 
nursing all the time against odds. My parents, sisters, and 
husband were voicing their opposition bitterly of late. I 


A BORN NURSE 


81 


thought I would not go back to Aunt Julia’s again, yet I 
did—the very next time she sent for me, and continued do¬ 
ing so through the few remaining months of her life. 

“The time to go to her reward was approaching, and she 
continually asked me to go see her and bathe her, with an 
alcohol rub down. The words the lady had spoken so sweet¬ 
ly, ‘I feel that my life has been made better by knowing 
you,’ haunted and urged me on during those trying days. 

“Aunt Julia died. . . No one to care if she had passed on. 
Merely a few people gathered around for a last work at 
the burial rites. This was a funeral to be paid for by the 
county and, naturally, there was not much care exercised 
in handling the corpse. On the way to the cemetery the 
undertaker must have been careless in fastening the doors 
of the hearse, for as it was being driven up a small hill- 
grade the doors came open and Aunt Julia slid out of the 
hearse in her casket, and there in the middle of the road 
was the casket and one lonely bouquet of flowers. Oh, it 
was pitiful! I have a sickening feeling in the pit of my 
stomach yet when I think that she was just one of the many 
who had only one bunch of flowers, and no one to care— 
only a few curious to see such laid in a pauper’s grave.” 

“Kassie, of course the undertaker discovered the loss im¬ 
mediately, I presume?” 

“Oh, yes,” Kassie replied. “Aunt Julia was finally laid to 
rest.” 

“Kassie, this story impresses me very much for the need 
of love for our fellowman. But I cannot seem to forget that 
terrible case of the sixteen-year-old girl’s family. Kassie, 
what kind of illness did the father have?—I just can’t get it 
off my mind.” 

“Jewel, I don’t know what ailed him. Doctor K. told me 
he had been bed-ridden for a long time; that there was no 
screens of any description over the windows or doors, there¬ 
fore flies were thick in the house, and the flies that cause 
screw worms had gotten into the house and deposited screw 
worms in the bed-sores in the poor old man’s back, that he 
had gone out and picked them out about two weeks before 
we went out to operate on the girl.” 


82 


A BORN NURSE 


“Kassie, honestly, that is most unbelievable.” 

“Yes,” Kassie replied, “people that have never had to 
come in contact with such things can hardly believe it; but 
it is true.” 

“Well, did Doctor K. have a medicine to prevent return 
of the screw worms after he got rid of them?” Jewel asked. 

“Yes, there is a medicine known as screw worm treat¬ 
ment.” 

“Kassie, I have never heard of that kind of a worm be¬ 
fore.” 

“Well, I think it is confined more or less to the warmer 
climates. Farmers have considerable trouble with it among 
the stock, especially the new-born cattle and hogs here in the 
south. People would do much better for themselves if they 
would not let such things happen.” 

Kassie continued: “Jewel, most of the rural cases reveal 
the remarkable patience of our wonderful country doctor 
in serving all classes of patients and impresses one with the 
fact that talented people cannot get away from the work 
they were intended to do, and those that can engage in the 
work they love should count their blessings every day.” 

“Kassie, after your work on the case of Aunt Julia, did 
you quit nursing for a while after she passed away?” Jewel 
asked. 

“No, but I tried to confine my duties to the hospital room 
in my home,” Kassie replied. 

“And did you succeed in that effort?” 

“No, Jewel, not at once.” 

“Kassie, previously in the story you said you nursed some 
of the very wealthy families; were you paid accordingly for 
your services ?” 

“Jewel, an undergraduate nurse was paid by the people 
that could afford it, the amount being two dollars for every 
twenty-four hours of service. I have stayed on duty for 
seventy-two hours without undressing as Doctor K. was a 
very strict physician, and the chart of a patient had to be 
kept up to date, but I enjoyed working for him, because of 
his serious mindedness.” 

Kassie continued: “One time my father was going to stop 


A BORN NURSE 


83 


me from nursing at all, so he went to Doctor K. with a very 
sad story to the effect that Khase needed me at home, and 
that he would be doing our family a great service if he 
would discharge me outright from his service. 

“I can imagine Doctor K. clearing his throat as was his 
habit, and saying to my Father, ‘Now, Hill, let us try to 
reason this thing out. Of course I know Khase and the chil¬ 
dren need the wife and mother at home—there just isn’t 
any argument to that question. Kassie was born to be a 
nurse, even though she has met with opposition on every 
step along the way, and I can understand her difficulties. 
But, like her, I could not be happy in any other work. My 
parents, tried to persuade me to go into the ministry. They 
plagued me daily. I knew I was not called to that, and as a 
man I took up the work I felt was my calling. You know, 
Hill, that Kassie left training school because of parental 
objection to the treatment the students received there. That 
that was unfortunate I heartily agree. But that did not take 
the desire out of her heart to nurse, any more than you 
would want to be a failure in your business world. And you 
have done well, as you know.’ 

“ ‘Now, Doc, a woman needs to be in the home; sure, I 
was bitterly opposed to the girls getting such a foolish no¬ 
tion in their minds. Their Mother has always been content¬ 
ed to stay home and rear our children, making a comfortable 
home and being a good wife and mother. Now Doc, just 
try to get around that fact—you can’t! And what could be 
more honorable to a woman?’ Hill asked determinedly. 

Doctor K. asked, “ ‘Well, now, Hill, is Khase being mis¬ 
treated on account of his meals not being prepared at the 
proper time?’ 

“‘No.’ 

“ ‘His clothes are laundered regularly, I presume?’ 

“ ‘Yes. But listen here, Doc—’ 

Doctor K. continued, “ ‘The children seem to be well 
cared for.’ 

“ ‘Yes, Doc., But I think—’ “Hill did not finish what he 
wished to say for Doctor K. was continuing his argument 
with his good friend.” 


84 


A BORN NURSE 


“ ‘Hill, I think of those children of yours as I would my 
own, and I feel very sorry for Kassie; and, too, I am very 
proud of her. She acquired more nursing ability from one 
year’s training than many a one completing the course. Fur¬ 
thermore, I had a patient to tell me that Kassie read the 
Bible and had prayer in the home as long as she stayed there. 
And one of the sons of the home made the remark to his 
father that he wanted the reading and prayers continued 
after the nurse left them, as it seemed to make the home 
more pleasant for some one to pray in it.’ 

“ ‘Now, dad-blame it, Doc,’ Hill said, ‘I think Kassie 
ought to stay home and—don‘t try to get close to me—I 
firmly believe in all the goodness that can be done, but 
charity begins at home.’ 

“ ‘That is right, Hill; and Kassie has helped many a fam¬ 
ily to see that very thing.’ 

“ ‘Yes, but if Kassie’s home is wrecked, what has she 
profited?’ 

“ ‘It won’t be—’ 

“ ‘Now how do you know it won’t?’ Hill interrupted. 

“ ‘Well, it could be faith,’ Doctor K. earnestly replied. 

“Father quieted down for a while and did not say any¬ 
thing to me about staying home. 

“I remember just two days before Christmas day I dis¬ 
missed a patient that had been nursed in my home, so I 
had promised one of the merchants to help out as a clerk in 
the store during the next two days with the last minute 
rush. As I was tidying up the house a knock on the door 
proved to be the man that had been our salesman for one 
of the popular products for as long as I could remember. 
Oh, he used to give us small children chewing gum and 
candy when he stopped at our house as he was making his 
rounds. Mother had always stocked up the medicine cabinet 
as well as the spice and flavoring cabinet, so when I began 
keeping house I followed her example—stocking up with 
these products spring and fall. But he had come to me on a 
different mission this evening. His mother was gravely ill 
and he asked me if I could possibly go stay with her. Re¬ 
member, I had promised to clerk for the next two days and 


A BORN NURSE 


85 


the merchant was depending on me, but the man was so 
pathetic in his pleading, stating he had tried to find some 
one else, but every one had more to do than was possible 
to get done before the appearance of Santa Claus was to 
be made. And colored people did not want to stay with any 
one so very ill. I could picture my mother—just suppose it 
were my mother, and every one so busy that there was no 
one to help!” 

“And you went of course?” Jewel interrupted. 

“Yes I did,” Kassie said, as Jewel asked another ques¬ 
tion. 

“And what about the job as clerk?” 

Kassie continued: “Well, I felt it was my duty to go and 
nurse the lady that evening, thinking she would perhaps, be 
feeling better by morning. I did not know until I arrived 
there that she was at the point of death, but from experience 
I knew that the hour was close to hand when she would 
pass on to the Great Beyond. I felt somewhat guilty for 
having spent more than two hours at home doing chores 
that the maid could have done after the man had so urgent¬ 
ly persuaded me to go and help with her. 

“She died at one o’clock that night, so I called the under¬ 
taker, and I thought that after the body was taken away 
I would call some one of the folks at home to come for me; 
but the undertaker came and had brought all the equip¬ 
ment for embalming the body. I was rather upset when he 
told me I would have to assist him in the embalming, there 
being no one else to help. I had not counted on this angle and 
felt a little bit faint when the task was begun. I told him 
that I certainly would not have his job. He came back with, 
‘You doctors and nurses do many things I would not want 
to do,’ which was true; but I told him that we were trying 
to save their lives, to which he replied, ‘Well, you don’t 
succeed in all cases, so we undertakers try to preserve the 
body after you doctors and nurses fail on the job.’ How¬ 
ever I kept my chin up and my feet on the floor until the 
task was completed. When he was ready to return home he 
mischievously smiled a little wickedly and said, ‘You are a 
better war horse than I thought at first. How about offer- 


86 


A BORN NURSE 


ing you a partnership in the company?’ 

“I answered, trying to appear that I thought he was 
sincere in offering me a partnership, ‘Well, that is some¬ 
thing worth considering. I must say you have done a beau¬ 
tiful job here, so I will think over your offer and let you 
know.’ 

“I suppose that put him on his feet once again? And good 
enough,” Jewel said. 

“Yes, those who laugh last laugh the loudest at times,” 
Kassie remarked, Jewel saying, ‘True enough,’ And nod¬ 
ding her head affirmatively. 

Kassie continued, “I returned home around nine o’clock 
in the morning and took a shower bath to refresh myself for 
the day’s work clerking. I believe that next to nursing, sales 
work would be next in a choice of work for me. A crowd of 
colored people came into the store to do their buying for 
Santa’s pack and I would ask them the children’s ages, 
then I would pick out toys I thought the children of the 
age would like. And then the wrapping and taking the money 
for them—I really got a thrill from every sale made. Mr. 
Smith advised me to quit making so many trips to the cash 
register, but drop the money into my pocket and deposit 
it in a bulk, which was very considerate of him. Old mer¬ 
chandise that had been piled back for two or more years 
was sold, because, I presume, there had been more jobs for 
the people, and money more plentiful. Mr. Smith said, 
‘Kassie, a new broom sweeps clean. Child, you have earned 
your wages, and a tiny bit of a bonus for selling all the 
old merchandise.’ 

“I had not thought of trying to be an expert saleslady. 
There was just something thrilling about selling that made 
me want to pile up the sales, and hear the tinkle of coins 
when dropped into the cash register. 

“Christmas week was gone, and I had been home every 
day. There had been no operating for Doctor K., and he 
had been enjoying a well deserved rest period. 

“The maid was to have time off until another case came 
up for me. Khase was telling me every day, though, to stay 
home that I had already gotten into enough trouble by 


A BORN NURSE 


87 


bringing body lice home to contaminate the family. He 
even tried to shame me to the extent of making me cry—I 
felt mine was a world of confusion. 

“New Year’s day here again—one year ago that I had 
been to Aunt Julias’, almost one year ago that I felt sure I 
could quit nursing forever! Satan had certainly spread his 
net to enmesh me on all sides. I had promised myself to 
break away from nursing in rural districts. And then even¬ 
tually to quit altogether. Sure, I had earnestly vowed I 
would. And now another year had passed, and I was still 
promising, but no closer to a solution than I was a year ago 
regarding the question of getting away from the work I 
was born to perform. Time was edging on toward a show¬ 
down as to what I would do. 

“Khase was getting dissatisfied with his job and began 
to talk of moving to another place. I felt sure the change he 
was talking about was for only one thing—to get me away 
from the encouraging influence of Doctor K., who seemed 
to understand my case, and was forever telling me to keep 
driving ahead; that the world needed those who were born 
to nurse, he would say. Of course my heart would turn flips, 
to think there were a few people who appreciated my efforts. 
Doctor K. had often said, ‘Kassie, I suppose I will go 
through life and not be able to save a dime; but if I am 
laid to rest in a pauper’s grave, I have the joy of knowing 
I have lived a full life by doing the work that I feel I was 
called to do. I cannot see people suffer without trying to 
alleviate their afflictions. I have donated much of my time, 
money, and advice to that end to the best of my knowledge, 
and I do not regret one minute of the charity work I have 
done, and I hope it has hit the mark and done some good.’ 

“All these things wandered through my mind, and I 
knew all that Doctor K. had said was true; I had seen him 
take cash money out of his pocket to buy medicine for pa¬ 
tients, and milk and bread for hungry little waifs. I know 
there must be many stars in his crown as the reward for 
living and sacrificing his time and money to bless others.” 

“Kassie, is Doctor K. still living? I really would enjoy 
meeting him.” 


88 


A BORN NURSE 


“Jewel, the last time I heard of him he was becoming 
very feeble, so I really don’t know. If and when I can see 
my way clear to make a visit I certainly would love to go 
and see about him.” 

“How about both of us going in my new car—oh, say 
some time this summer?” Jewel asked. 

“A wonderful idea,” Kassie replied. “I would love to go 
very much, shall we set a date?” 

“It’s a deal, and don’t forget about it,” Jewel said, and 
continued by asking her friend another question. 

“Kassie, you were in so much turmoil over your life of 
nursing—did you go on any more rural district nursing 
trips?” 

“Yes—one more, that I remember well enough; it was 
to be a charity case. You can sum up the pay when I tell 
you the story. This patient was a friend to our family for 
many years. Unfortunate events in his life prevented him 
from saving any money for old age or sickness. 

“There was one daughter staying with him, and when he 
became so seriously ill, my heart was full of sympathy for 
her. There was no money with which to hire any one to stay 
there, so I went and stayed one week, sitting up practically 
day and night. Oh, she did, too. Every evening she would 
get her thread and crochet hook and work on beautiful cen¬ 
ter-pieces, she teaching me to crochet as we kept watch over 
the patient, this helping to pass away the time. Since then I 
have made many pretty crochet things for my home, as you 
may see.” 

“Yes, in fact I have been admiring that pretty doily on 
the table. I presume you made it?” 

“That, Jewel, is the center piece this patient’s daughter 
was making the week I stayed there. The night she finished 
it (Kassie paused as she fondly touched the doily on the 
table, she broke the thread and handed it to me and said, 
‘Here, Kassie, please accept this; it is all I have to offer for 
your kindness in staying here. And I do appreciate it very 
much.’ 

“Somehow I felt amply paid for my services,” Kassie 
said, and Jewel replied, “Yes, you can still see appreciation 


A BORN NURSE 


89 


for your service in this art work of hers.” 

Kassie continued her story: “That summer many patients 
came to my home for operations. My little girl was now 
four years of age, so I made her a little white nurse’s apron 
and cap like my own and I could just see my dreams of her 
fulfilling my heart’s desire for her to become a full-fledged 
R.N. (Kassie’s eyes were sparkling as she talked.) I could 
really walk around on air as in my mind’s eye I could en¬ 
vision her in a white uniform and cap, and dark hair—a 
wisp of it getting unruly at a time when she could not fix it, 
as that was bound to happen; as you know, it was pounded 
into our heads never to touch our faces or hair when we 
were waiting on a patient.” 

“Yes,” Jewel said, “I remember there were so many 
‘don’ts’ when I was in training,” to which Kassie remarked, 
“And they are never forgotten—once they are learned.” 

“How right you are . . . they really do stick with you.” 
And Jewel continued, saying, “And now she wishes to be 
a missionary. Life can play cruel tricks, as to our thinking 
I suppose.” 

“Well, I have reconciled myself to the idea,” Kassie said. 
“As I told you before, if that be her calling, may God bless 
her in the work.” (Kassie quickly brushed away a tear as 
she continued with her story.) 

“Close to one Christmas, a young mother with two small 
children came to my home for an emergency operation. Doc¬ 
tor K. explained to me that the husband of the young 
woman had deserted her and she had to go back home to 
live with a father that had all he could do to beat out a 
living in his blacksmith shop, much less try to pay for an 
operation for the patient. Well, the good doctor told me 
if I could give my service to nurse her, he would help the 
father pay for her food, I to furnish bed linen and nurse 
her, and take care of the three-year-old child—his work for 
operating would be charity, of course, unless the husband 
could be found and persuaded to come forward with pay for 
the service. 

“The patient was progressing nicely, and Christmas was 
coming closer. One day as I entered the room I caught sight 


90 


A BORN NURSE 


of tears glistening in the patient’s eyes, when she quickly 
turned her face to the wall. I picked up water glasses and a 
few odds and ends and left the room, without saying any¬ 
thing to her. I surmised the trouble—Christmas night, and 
no Santa to gladden the heart of her little three-year-old 
darling girl. 

“I brushed away a tear as I thought of my own purse 
which was lacking in enough funds to buy all the things I 
wanted Santa to have in his pack for my darlings, though 
they would have more than the average child, as my parents 
would see to that. How I planned and figured to try to get 
enough money to buy a doll for the three-year-old child; 
even the poor little china doll that the old hound dog had 
torn up was better than not having any doll at all on Christ¬ 
mas morning. I prayed over the matter as I went about my 
task the rest of the day. Late in the evening a patient that 
I had nursed and had forgotten came to my house and made 
me a gift—three dollars, to be exact. 

“As I held the money in my hand it seemed there was a 
voice from out of somewhere saying, ‘Here is the funds to 
buy the doll for Diana.’ Yes, I suppose it was. The lady 
worked for a living, earning enough money to be well sup¬ 
ported—next morning found me in town shopping for the 
prettiest doll I could find for exactly three dollars! 

“Christmas morning came and Diana clasped her pretty 
dolly to her bosom as if she would never let it go. And again 
I ignored the tears that filled the mother’s eyes. But this 
time she did not turn her face to the wall to hide them. 

“Her father came to see her on Christmas day and how 
he appreciated the grandchild’s gift! The poor old fellow 
was badly in need of a coat, so I found one of my husband’s 
old ones and gave it to him. It does my heart good to help 
some worthy person in need.” 

“Yes, Kassie, I agree with you. I have been summing up 
the total of different people who have tried to help. It was 
as if you had have thrown so much time and effort to the 
four winds.” 

“Yes, only how true it is, to try to help but be too late. 
But some one might have been of help if they had started in 


A BORN NURSE 


91 


time. Anyway, I have been repaid for the experience which 
taught me to be ever ready to give a word of encouragement 
and lend a helping hand to those in need.” 

“That is one way to add it, without a remainder being- 
left,” Jewel said. 

I feel that if I could have completed my nurse’s train¬ 
ing course before I married, and had been placed in my 
rightful position in life, my husband would not be adding 
up the sum of feeling short-changed in the matter of a wife 
and home at this time of life.” 

“Yes, Kassie, that is another angle; the books just won’t 
balance in that column.” 

Kassie said, “After all is said and done, if I can manage 
somehow by the grace of God to build the convalescence 
home I’m striving for, perhaps I can die happy.” 

“Kassie, when you complete the building, I would like 
to donate the furnishings for one room, in honor of my 
father. He was a doctor, too, but was called very early in 
life by an accident. The fog was heavy and he failed to take 
a curve on the highway.” 

“Jewel, I have heard you speak of your parents, but I 
did not know about the accident that was fatal to your 
father.” 

“Kassie, as my father could not stay with us, I am glad 
that I can say my parents—for I was very young, and I am 
sure I would not have known the difference had I not been 
told of my step-father.” 

“You do have blessings to count,” Kassie said thought¬ 
fully. 

“Yes, indeed,” Jewel agreed. 

“Jewel,” Kassis said, “you would have a sweet story to 
tell of your life.” 

“True, Kassie, but it would be the story of so many other 
people of this great country that it would not have the spice 
to arouse sympathy or feeling. My life consisted of school 
days, parties—nice ones only, and vacations. I cared little 
for boy friends. As you know, I am still single and like that 
way of life. I have always wanted to make my own way 
through life. As an R.N. I received enough salary to buy 


92 


A BORN NURSE 


the clothes I need and manage to save a small sum each 
month. I am happy, so what more could I want? Here we 
are getting away from the story, and the day is wearing on. 
What was the next case you were called on to help?” 

“Jewel, there were many cases. But as it happened the 
majority of them were people who could pay for the service 
of a nurse and, as I told you, I was trying to ease away 
from the profession. My husband was feeling terribly sorry 
for himself—the feeling being augmented by the ‘sympathy’ 
of others. 

“The Builders Supply Company had lost two of their high 
officials from heart disease, so Khase was very dissatisfied 
with his work there. He had a tantrum every few days dur¬ 
ing which he said he wanted to move away from our home 
town and get another job. Of course, I felt that was only a 
ruse to get me away from nursing. I could have been very 
wrong about that. 

“An opportunity was presented for my sister, her boy 
friend, Khase and me to go for a week-end visit to the Hos¬ 
pital where Pat and I spent our year in training, excluding 
the many hours we made up that had been taken away by 
the Superintendent for trifles. I suppose she had lots of 
fun seeing the students working for nothing. The Techni¬ 
cian we had known when we were there invited us to make 
the visit. She was very courteous, showing us the new ward 
that had been built, and the new home for nurses, 

“She had a sweet little girl with red curly hair. The other 
Technician, we were informed, was to be married soon. We 
found only two or three of the nurses who were there when 
we left, still on the staff at the Hospital. How sick at heart 
I felt! Why could I not have seen into the future, and battled 
to finish training? 

“Khase succeeded in getting a new job clerking in a store 
shortly after we came back from that visit, causing us to 
move several miles from where we lived; but instead of get¬ 
ting me farther away from nursing influences, we had moved 
within a few minutes’ walking distance of a hospital, of all 
places! 

“His work was clean, though the wages were to be small 


A BORN NURSE 


93 


for a while. The owner of the store was building a beauti¬ 
ful home on St. Simons Island, where he was spending a 
few months, Khase was to receive additional pay for the 
extra work. 

“We rented two rooms from the mother of one of the 
clerks and crowded into them. She was a seamstress, and 
made me an offer to assist with her sewing, which I gladly 
accepted, as I was lonely for my uniform, being especially 
haunted by the fact that the hospital was almost in my front 
door. 

“There was a standing agreement that Khase was to get 
a salary of fifty dollars a month, fifteen dollars of which we 
paid for rent, so the extra money I made sewing was very 
welcome. There was to be a third child . . . my husband was 
positive that three children would keep me so busy that I 
would not have time to think of the nursing profession 
again; I hoped too, that I could forget it. 

“I was trying very hard to put on a bold front of being 
happy. My husband came home one evening and told me he 
was going to St. Simons, to deliver a load of household fur¬ 
niture to his employer’s new home, and wanted me to go 
with him. It was to be a trip in a motor truck, but he 
thought it would be wonderful for us, I never having been 
to the ocean. I called Mother by telephone and asked her 
to keep my children for me; she said she would gladly do 
so, stating that she thought the little vacation would do me 
a world of good. We arrived at the beautiful home on the 
beach and put the house in perfect condition for housekeep¬ 
ing. 

“I did not sleep very much the first night on the beach. 
The great body of water fascinated me. In the dusk of the 
evening, looking far out over the ocean, the sky line so far 
away melting into the deep blue of the ‘briny deep, I 
thought of the words in an old song, ‘There’s a wideness in 
God’s mercy like the wideness of the sea.’ Then the beau¬ 
tiful silvery moon rising over the water with white caps 
foaming and spraying, eventually beating against the shore 
line, but going on . . . on . . . on! It seemed to have no pui- 
pose yet it could conquer and be conquered. Great ships sailed 


94 


A BORN NURSE 


to their destination upon its bosom, but carrying some to 
destruction—of course, the ship with a good pilot would 
likely reach port. Meditating upon all this grandeur of na¬ 
ture, I endeavored to analyze my life . . . why the surging 
billows of life’s sea had so buffeted me that I had not suc¬ 
ceeded in reaching my destination, so in awed silence I 
sought guidance from the Supreme Pilot. 

“My husband sitting down by my side, placed a basket 
across my lap, brought me out of my dream-world. In it 
there were delicious barbecue, hamburger, and hot dog sand¬ 
wiches with all the trimmings—onions, pickles, and a small 
jar of mustard. Oh, he surely was trying to make me happy 
on this little vacation, and I tried to feel ashamed. A guilty 
conscience would help, but I could feel neither one—I had 
been cheated of my rightful heritage, so when Khase asked 
me if I were enjoying the vacation, of course I said (in a 
sense) I was. 

“ ‘Then, Kassie,’ he said, pleadingly, ‘let us really live 
these fe\y days here on the beach; let them be full ones. I 
have never been able to realize that you are mine. You 
haven’t said more than two or three words during the last 
hour,’ then he asked, ‘Kassie, what are you thinking of?’ 

“ ‘Oh,’ I said, ‘I was thinking of the big ocean out there 
. . . how lonesome it must be!’ He smiled faintly and said, 
‘Well, it sure is making a heck of a lot of noise out there 
alone, to be so lonesome.’ 

“Words flowed more fluently between us the rest of the 
evening. Really and truly I loved my husband; I wanted 
him to be happy, but at the same time I wanted to be 
figured in on the deal of being happy, too. 

“I would gaze out over the ocean in the early mornings 
as the sun was rising—So many colors—the sun shining on 
the water which just kept flowing onward, with its waves 
and glistening white caps, I could easily imagine the exis¬ 
tence of an enchanted city. It brought back the memories 
of the old darky on the plantation at home telling my sis¬ 
ters and me, how the pretty mermaids would come up out of 
the water to comb their long hair, a fantastic story easily 
imagined as one gazed upon that vast expanse of water from 


A BORN NURSE 


95 


a ship out in the middle of the deep blue sea—well, I hope 
to experience it some day myself. 

We had spent one week getting the new home in first- 
class condition for my husband’s employer and family, which 
had afforded me a rest, too. But now the week was over, and 
I had to get back home to help with the sewing. We had 
spent entirely too much money—I had not prepared one 
pan of food during the entire week. 

“I sewed every spare moment for a month after the trip 
to the ocean, as there had to be some savings for the new 
baby. Food, rent, and clothing to be paid for out of fifty 
dollars a month was not going to leave anything to save, so 
I could work until the last month before beginning to sew 
for the new addition to the family. 

“Another one of my grandmothers became sick, and I 
was called to help nurse her. She lived only a few days after 
becoming ill. How I wished the precious child I was carry¬ 
ing beneath my heart would be a nurse or doctor—which¬ 
ever the Lord saw fit to give me, boy or girl! 

“If I were ever to get away from nursing, there was only 
one thing to do—refuse to go when called, but that was 
impossible. I tried to crawl into a shell of selfishness, but 
I could not refuse to go where needed. 

“One of my girl friends who had entered training at the 
same hospital with Pat and me was now working at the hos¬ 
pital here close to my home as an undergraduate. She had 
not stayed in training as long as we did. On an errand to a 
department store for supplies for the seamstress I met Ann 
coming off duty at the hospital. She said she and her hus¬ 
band would be over that evening to visit us. I was thrilled as 
we talked over old times, until our husbands told us they 
had planned an opossum hunt and wanted us to go with 
them, but Ann began to argue that she would be on duty 
at that time. Sam, her husband, flared up and said, ‘To the 
duce with duty! Duty, duty, duty; Khase, that is all I ever 
hear . . . duty, and that hospital out there.’ My husband 
chimed in, ‘Ditto, brother. Amen.’ All of us laughed, and 
decided ‘a hunting we would go.’ I was very excited for it 
brought back memories of opossum hunts, and fishing in the 


96 


A BORN NURSE 


swamp. On one occasion Pat and I went fishing and we 
thought perhaps we had better take along the monstrous- 
looking bulldog that Father had bought for us to replace 
our faithful old dog Shep that the old negro, Sun, had left 
with us when he was called to war, that dog having been 
mercifully done away with. The bulldog puppy was about 
half grown when I was graduated from school. The rascal 
had grown up and became a mean and ugly looking dog; 
Father thought a great deal of him even if he did try to 
kill every chicken, hog, or dog that came in range of his 
leash. 

“The dog was very gentle with all the family, but no 
strangers were safe within his reach. He trotted along quiet¬ 
ly behind the wagon in which we were riding and when we 
entered the swamp we took off the leash as there was 
nothing to excite him the rest of the way to our favorite 
place to fish. We set our fishing poles, then went down into 
the swamp where we could swing a throw line, that being a 
sure means of getting a nice string of fish. The dog would 
stop and perk up his ears, standing tense. Pat and I were 
trying to put on a bold front for each other. She would say, 
‘Pshaw! he doesn’t hear anything!’ Nevertheless we were 
straining our ears trying to hear even the snapping of a 
twig, but the line was thrown out and we returned to our 
place to fish with the poles. The dog came close to us and 
sat down, yet he kept perking up his ears. We could tell the 
intruder was getting closer by the tenseness of the dog. Low 
muffled moans were coming close enough for us to hear 
them. Both of us started to speak at the same time, saying 
that it might be a wild boar, as it was the grunting of a hog 
we had heard. We feared for ourselves, as well as for the 
dog for the reason that the long tushes of a wild boar could 
easily kill the dog if he could get at it just right; but no, as 
it came in sight we were greatly relieved to see it was 
a domesticated animal that had probably broken through 
some farmer’s fence. 

“Very soon the hog and dog were in the water fighting. 
We knew it would be a shame to let the hog be killed, so 
we pulled off our shoes to wade into the water. We beat, 


A BORN NURSE 


97 


coaxed, and pulled at the dog; we became wet all over, but 
he continued to grip the throat of the poor helpless hog, 
which had ceased to struggle. I tried to choke the dog but 
it was like grasping so much iron. We decided to grab 
hold of the fat on the back of his neck and pull him off if we 
had to break it. We finally made him release the hog, but we 
had to drag the rascal every inch of the way to the wagon 
and hold him while the leash was put around his neck, and 
tied it to the wagon wheel, then we went back, wet and ex¬ 
hausted and sat on the bank to fish.” 

“What became of the hog, Kassie?” 

“We watched it floundering in the mud and water for a 
while, then it got out and dizzily walked off into the swamp.” 

“You never heard who it belonged to?” Jewel asked. 

“No; and I never inquired, for the poor thing was badly 
chewed up. We did all we could to save its life.” 

“How about the fish—did you catch any?” 

“Yes,” Kassie said, “we gathered in a nice string on the 
throw line.” 

“Kassie, you started once to tell me about a ’possum 
hunt; what happened on it?” Jewel asked, a little anxiously. 

“Oh, nothing in particular,” Kassie said, “beyond the 
incident that Ann stumbled and fell, ramming her arm into 
a keg of mash.” 

“A keg of mash? What is that for; I thought you were 
supposed to be in the woods ’possum hunting.” 

“My dear, we were. Mash in a keg, found in the woods, 
means that someone is making ‘mountain dew’ unbeknown 
to Uncle Sam. You have heard of ‘mountain dew’ I pre¬ 
sume?” Kassie asked. 

“Well, if it means the same as ‘fire water,’ I have heard.” 

“That is right,” Kassie said. 

“Well, Kassie, did you know to whom it belonged?” 

“No, and, believe me, we did not linger to try to find out. 
It was plenty soured; and too, it might have gotten us in 
trouble to spend any time there—unlawful operators are 
apt to get rough with one who accidentally discovers a still. 
Naturally, we found a branch of water there where Ann 
washed her arm, then we went to another place, after call- 


98 


A BORN NURSE 


ing in the hunting dogs. It was closer to home, where the 
woodland was spacious enough to allow fair hunting with 
less danger in stumbling on someone’s hiding place or maybe 
falling in a barrel of soured mash, which would have been 
pathetic.” 

“I can well imagine that,” Jewel said, “but what I am 
trying to figure out is why would it be necessary to fall in a 
barrel or keg; it seems to me anyone would either run 
against it or topple over it—just don’t make sense to me.” 

“Jewel, I haven’t had any experience with the making of 
mountain dew—perhaps it should be called swamp dew, 
stump rum, or moonshine. It was in the swamp that a bunch 
of neighbors had planned a ’possum hunt. I was with them 
when we ran up on a huge barrel buried in the ground. The 
crowd gathered around, surmising that it must have been 
old Diamond Dan’s mash barrel who had been captured by 
revenue officers a few years before for violating the law. 
That, and the keg of mash in process into which Ann 
rammed her arm, were the only two I ever saw or heard of.” 

“Kassie, I believe that the country offers a wider range 
of knowledge than can be found in the bright lights of the 
city. It seems that you have encountered a vast number of 
experiences.” 

“Yes, I have,” Kassie said, “and I have enjoyed many of 
them, too.” 

“Tell me, did you catch any ’possums that night?” Jewel 
asked. “We certainly did,” Kassie replied. “The dogs treed 
three of them and a coon. They were put in a box and fat¬ 
tened on buttermilk and corn meal bread. Ann and I later 
prepared a supper of very browned ’possum with baked 
sweet potatoes—good gracious Jewel, don’t be so wide- 
eyed—that was a swell supper—” 

“Oh, I was just wondering what it would be like. I did 
not mean to be so ‘wide-eyed’ as you say; I suppose you 
feasted on the coon in the same manner.” 

“No, Khase gave it to one of the clerks at the store, and 
they feasted on it in like manner.” 

“The two couples of us had some wonderful times to¬ 
gether. They owned a lovely automobile, their home, and a 


A BORN NURSE 


99 


pack of hunting dogs, and appeared to be as content and 
happy as they could be; but ofttimes when she and I talked 
about the mistake we had made in quitting nurses’ training 
we felt blue and despondent. She persuaded me into promis¬ 
ing to take a job at the same hospital with her after the 
baby arrived and was a couple of months old; but when the 
youngster was born, I was so in love with her—Oh, I 
thought she was the sweetest little tyke—and I kept so busy 
with the three of them that nursing drifted away into the 
distance for almost six months, then I began to grow rest¬ 
less again for my uniform and cap. 

“The hospital seemed to beckon me each time I allowed 
myself to look that way. Ann had said, too, that another 
nurse was badly needed there, asking why I didn’t apply 
for the position before someone else got the job. The pain 
in my heart would stab a little deeper each time I thought 
of someone else getting the place I wanted so badly. 

“My husband looked so disgusted when I approached 
him on the subject of going to the hospital to nurse. Oh, yes, 
and somewhat angry, though his words were few: only 
that—‘I thought it was getting about time for you to 
start that silly foolishness ! Haven’t we been happier here, 
with you at home with us?’ 

“I argued that we would always live in two rooms if we 
did not cooperate; that it was getting time for us to think 
about building a home of our own. I eventually won, and 
when I got into my uniform again I felt as though I was 
walking on air . . . up the corridor . . . into this room, that 
room. I cannot express in words my happiness. There would 
be some night work, but I really enjoyed it. The second floor 
was mine to care for on the night shift: I drew the mid¬ 
night lines, ran my charts, gave all the medicine, made out 
diet lists, and wrote the night report to send to the front 
office. 

“After working for a while, the lady from whom we had 
rented the rooms moved into the country with her father. 
He had no one to look after him so she rented us all of the 
house except one room in which she kept her electric sewing 
machine, returning to town each day to sew. The noise made 


100 


A BORN NURSE 


by people coming in to have sewing done and to be fitted 
kept me from sleeping to the extent that it got on my nerves. 
I had one ten dollar bill that I had tried to save: I paid it 
down on a lot for I was determined to have a home of my 
own somehow. I asked Father to lend me ninety dollars to 
pay in full for the lot. He did, but later gave it to me, and 
also gave ninety dollars to each of the other four girls, they 
to buy whatever they wanted. 

“The bricks for the home pillars cost fifteen dollars, that 
sum being paid out of three pay days from my salary of 
forty dollars a month. Wages were low, so was the price of 
brick. My husband being a good carpenter, he did the work 
in spare time. 

“The six rooms were nearing completion when one of 
Khase’s old employers made a special trip to ask him to go 
back to his former job, making him such an attractive offer 
that they made a deal. He would finish the house then take 
the job. It was to be several miles away which meant that 
we would either have to move there with him and rent the 
new house, or for me to keep my job and stay alone; con¬ 
ditions were already developing at the hospital to shatter 
that idea. 

“One of the R.N.’s who had been making rather in¬ 
sinuating remarks about how some people could build a 
new house on such meager wages was beyond her compre¬ 
hension. I considered her one of the poisonous weeds that 
will grow in the garden of any profession, so I tried not to 
get angry enough, or say anything to her; but when old Luci¬ 
fer himself showed up in her, I plainly told her it was not 
lady-like to do what she had done.” 

“What had she done, Kassie?” 

“Jewel, although she had made so much trouble for me, 
I did not tell the superintendent what she had done. As long 
as she had been there as a R.N., and if the superintendent 
could not see for herself what was going on, I did not con¬ 
sider it ethical to report her. 

“I expected tricks to be pulled on me, but the unexpected 
happened one day, catching me off guard.” 

“What was it? Honestly, I believe I would have been 


A BORN NURSE 


101 


getting fed up trying to nurse,” Jewel remarked. 

Kassie continued: “Well, I had asked to be transferred 
to another floor to get away from her, but the superintend¬ 
ent said there was nothing open except on the night shift, 
but that was impossible now, as Khase was going to work 
away from home, making it necessary for me to be at home 
at night. I had been very happy on the night shift, but had 
been transferred to a day shift long ago. 

“The doctor, working as house doctor, was a handicapped 
physician. He never tried to have an office out of the hos¬ 
pital. This nurse I spoke of was always saying something 
corny to him; of course, he would laugh with her. One day, 
as I was running my charts, the two of them came through 
the chart room together. I had noticed she had said some¬ 
thing to him causing him to laugh. I had a feeling that it 
was something concerning me, but I did not realize until he 
slapped me across the hips and I slapped him and advised 
him to keep his hands to himself. 

“The R.N. waited only long enough to hear it all and 
off to the superintendent’s office she went/and very soon I 
was called ‘on the carpet/ there being made to realize my 
status. 

“Undergraduate nurse ! The superintendent tried to make 
me feel that the R.N.’s word was above mine, though I 
did not know what she had been told. When I faced my 
enemy to ask her some questions she gave me a mocking 
laugh that seemed to start deep down in her entrails in more 
or less an ugly gurgle. With emphasis she said, ‘Kassie, you 
should know by now that a R.N. of my position would not 
go to the superintendent on an errand of such a thing as 
tattling. I just cannot imagine anything so cheap.’ 

“Well, fifteen days more or less could not make much 
difference to me, so I might as well get it off my chest. 

“Could I have forgotten being a lady for a little while I 
would have engaged in a round of fisticuffs with her, my 
Irish temper having boiled over the brim. Oh, she said that 
‘An undergraudate should at least know the rules, forbid¬ 
ding undergraduates to slap a doctor, or talk back to an 
R.N., which I had violated.” 


102 


A BORN NURSE 


“Sure, I knew all the rules; to be sure it was against the 
hospital rules to slap a doctor. I reminded her that no doc¬ 
tor is above the rules of decency, and that my body is private¬ 
ly owned; that even the lowest order of animals had respect 
among themselves. I can still hear her sneering laugh, and 
at the time I was so angry I wanted to start clawing her as a 
tiger might do, as creatures of her stripe had caused me to 
be cheated long enough. Just such obnoxious weeds spring¬ 
ing up in human society had been the very cause of my par¬ 
ents’ being so bitterly against the profession, almost ruining 
my life. 

“I worked out the fifteen-day notice, wondering why she 
had gotten angry with me in the first place. 

“The state board could be informed and asked for a hear¬ 
ing but that would raise a greater row than ever; so, after 
praying over the whole matter, and deciding perhaps it 
would be for the best, I would rent the house that had not 
been lived in, and move with my husband. 

“The day I left the hospital I made up my mind to ad¬ 
vise the doctor to be careful how and whom he slapped from 
now on, for the mistake he made in slapping a lady, had 
cost me my job. 

“After asking me several questions about the issue that 
had been raised, he nonchalantly leaned with one shoulder 
against the wall and said he could see through it all now; 
he was just having a little fun, not really meaning anything 
wrong. Then he said, ‘Don’t be a fool. Come with me, and 
I will straighten this out at once,’ to which I replied, ‘No, 
it is too late now. I have prepared to move back home.’ 
He then asked me what would we do with the new house 
for which we had worked so patiently, and I informed him 
it would be rather heart-breaking to leave it without know¬ 
ing the freedom of plenty of room after being cooped up in 
tiny rooms for so long, but it was already rented, and I 
was packing up to leave. 

“The old house we had formerly lived in at home was 
not available, therefore all we were able to find was two 
rooms in an old dormitory—a family of five crowded into 
them for about three months! Then we got our old home 


A BORN NURSE 


103 


back . . . There were the same shrubs and bulbs I had plant¬ 
ed when I had lived there before. There was the room that 
I had used for a hospital room—it all rather haunted me. 
I knew if I said anything about nursing again it would 
create dissension in the family . . . Perhaps if we moved far 
away from our home town and made a new start elsewhere 
it might change our luck. I really was getting the wander¬ 
lust. I was trying to beautify our lawn. Spring was at hand 
and the glorious blossoms would soon be lending their beauty 
to life. 

“Soon after breakfast one morning, as I was out in the 
yard planning some beds for my different flower seeds, one 
of my friends came by and paused to say ‘Good morning’ 
and exchange a few words. She told me she was going to 
the courthouse to sign up to go to a school to train for 
work in a plant. I eagerly asked her where, so I signed up to 
go, too. That afternoon Father told me it seemed to him 
that I would have enough to do to care for my family, but 
I did not argue, more than to say that my brother had been 
drafted into the service for the conflict that was in progress 
at the time, and I wanted to help make the material for him 
to do his part in protecting our freedom in this great coun¬ 
try and that I would not be by myself in making this sacrifice, 
so about twenty-five of us started to school from my vicinity. 
Part of the time my mother-in-law cared for my children, 
and I was soon able to employ the service of a maid. Three 
weeks’ training was enough to place me with the company 
that was to employ the trainees. 

“Building was booming, and I asked Khase to come to 
this town and get a job as a carpenter, which he did. My 
youngest sister stayed with my children at night until their 
school closed. Then we moved into one large room with 
kitchen privileges where we remained until a place in which 
to live could be found. This old house was very dirty, and 
there were several rooms rented out—people were desperate 
for a place to live. 

“Now that I believe this was the city in which I wanted 
to settle down, the next thing was to buy a home just as 
quickly as possible. 


104 


A BORN NURSE 


“A real estate dealer gladly showed us some houses which 
could be bought on the F.H.A. plan, if we could get enough 
money together to pay in full for the lot. Well, Father had 
made all the children another sum of money as a gift to 
buy whatever they may choose. Mine went for the lot of one 
of the F.H.A. houses . . . All the neat little houses in a row 
was a pretty sight to me after being cooped up in one dirty 
room. So, we bought one that afternoon, and within a few 
days we were living in the little house that we could call our 
own as long as the payments were kept up; and I am proud 
to say that we kept them up as long as necessary. Many of 
my friends gave me flower cuttings and also a lot of shrub¬ 
bery already rooted to set out. Of course, favorite rose 
bushes were bought. Oh, the people worked faithfully with 
their new homes and, too, they were people who had tried 
so long to find a place in which to live, that they appreciated 
a place they could call their own. 

“There was a knoll that had been left; seemed no one 
wanted to build a house on it. One day as I was walking 
around I stopped on this knoll of earth . . . How we needed 
a church for this little suburb. Perhaps God was keeping it 
for that purpose. 

“Another year passed and the knoll of earth was still 
barren of a building. I spoke to one of the neighborhood 
ladies about the site being just the place for a church. Well, 
I suppose that she must have repeated it to some one for 
it was not very long until a minister visited me one after¬ 
noon and said that he had been making a survey in the 
neighborhood for opinions about establishing a church, and 
a lot of them had given him my name as being very inter¬ 
ested in a church. 

“My home was opened for prayer services, and any of 
the churches services to be held until provisions could be 
made for some kind of a church. Well, the minister called 
on the real estate dealer and the little knoll of earth was 
donated for the erection of a place to worship. The first 
shelter was a nice sized tent, then the pretty brick building 
was completed and the dedication service was held. The 
happy congregation wept for joy. I had visited the knoll of 


A BORN NURSE 


105 


earth every year to ask God for the plot of ground to be 
kept as sacred; how many more of the people there did the 
same, I do not know, but surely there must have been many 
of them . . . for we really have a nice little house for wor¬ 
ship.” 

Kassie, Jewel interrupted, “you were speaking of work¬ 
ing in a plant; why did you not stay with it?” 

“Jewel, I sustained a minor accident there, but it pulled 
a muscle in my arm. Oh, I was off from work a long time, 
and made a trip to Hot Springs, Arkansas, and took the 
baths prescribed for me. By the time the doctor gave me 
permission to return to work—it was to be only light work 
—I was again getting restless for my uniform and cap, so I 
decided to apply to one of the hospitals for employment. 

“The first one I visited informed me they were accepting 
no one with a family, so that let me out there. The next 
place needed a dietician, but I did not fit in there although 
I was given a chance to try it, but nursing was what I wanted 
to do. After talking with the person in charge of employing 
for the hospital, she gave me the name of a person to see 
at another hospital as she knew undergraduates were being 
employed. 

“I shall never forget the picture before me as I entered 
this hospital: The sweet-faced lady sitting behind the desk, 
dressed in white, with her white knitting on her lap. On the 
desk was a large basket of white peach blossoms and as I 
approached close to the desk, she looked up from her knit¬ 
ting and smiled. I asked to see the lady in charge of em¬ 
ployment. With a sweet voice she said, ‘Yes, come with me.’ 
I followed her to the office of the Superintendent. Somehow 
I felt this new start in the nursing profession was what I 
needed. 

“She asked me if I would be able to start work the next 
morning. Well, that was sooner than I had planned, for I 
needed new uniforms, as I had gained quite a few pounds 
in weight, and to buy new ones, without knowing if I would 
get work would have been very foolish. After explaining this 
she told me I might take some time to get the uniforms, and 
also make arrangements for my children to be cared for. 


106 


A BORN NURSE 


“The coming week found me at work in the wards of the 
hospital. I learned that the nurses had more to do than was 
possible to get done. Oh, there were several nurses’ aids, 
but still not enough help. 

“The girl that showed me where to work said, ‘Here is 
ward A—do it first’; then we went to the men’s ward and 
she said to do this next. I looked around over the room at 
the patients, wondering if I would be able to give all the 
baths in one ward and perform all the other duties. 

“I intended to speak to the girl who had conducted me to 
the wards, but when I turned to where she was standing she 
had gone, leaving me there looking at all the work before 
me; I felt rather foolish, not knowing where to look for 
fresh linen or even a washcloth and basin. Some of the 
patients began speaking: ‘We had a girl to come in yester¬ 
day, and the desk girl did her the same way, so she left at 
once; but please don’t you leave us. We will try to tell you 
where to find things.’ 

“I thanked them from the bottom of my heart for this 
evidence of welcome so I told ward B that as soon as I 
finished ward A I would be back to give them a bath. 

“Within a few days the work was going along smoothly, 
most all the ward patients being willing to cooperate with 
me by helping keep the beds and themselves looking nice. I 
was very happy now that I was doing the work I liked, but 
I was so tired at night, sleep came easily. 

“One of my ward patients was an elderly blind lady— 
how my heart went out to her! She wanted to be friendly, 
and being lonely wished to talk to someone, so every time 
I passed her way and had a moment to spare I spoke a few 
pleasant words to her. I often gathered bouquets of flowers 
and carried them to the wards, giving some of them to the 
dear old blind lady and let her smell the sweet perfume, 
explaining to her the different colors of the bouquet. She 
really appreciated the smallest favors. 

“Then there was Mary, the retired school teacher, who 
loved children and flowers. She was forever begging some 
one to lead her outside to see the camellias in bloom, but 
help was so scarce that things of that sort had to be omitted. 


A BORN NURSE 


107 


Observing all those old people that would enjoy an hour 
or so in the open if it were possible to have a home for 
them, the idea had begun to take shape in my heart for a 
place in which to care for just such people; but the pain that 
pierced my heart was the realization of the need for a 
convalescence home was when an old lady who was almost 
blind in both eyes, came to the hospital for an operation on 
them. 

“She told me that morning if only she had a place to go 
where she could lie down at night knowing that in the morn¬ 
ing someone would be there to prepare something for her 
to eat. And if she had someone to go shopping for her, she 
could manage to feel her way around the kitchen at home 
to cook enough for herself. I asked her if she did not have 
some relatives who could help her with the shopping. ‘Oh, 
yes, she said, but they told her if they had to care for her 
it would be only long enough for them to take by law what 
property she owned for caring for her,’ and then she would 
have to go to the poorhouse, if she lived longer than that. 

“If there was a way for me to get a place for those dear 
old people I surely meant to do so, and I began planning 
how it could be done. By accident I heard of some property 
that I might be able to buy for the purpose of such a home. 

“I asked my Father for four hundred dollars to make up 
the amount that I needed to pay for the land; but when I 
told him the reason for buying the land he got angry, stat¬ 
ing that four hundred dollars was a lot of money. I inform¬ 
ed him that it would be paid back with whatever interest he 
charged—well, if he loaned it to me, four per cent would 
be the rate of interest, but he did not give me any satisfac¬ 
tion as to the loan at that time, but at the first of the week 
my Mother called me by long distance phone and said the 
check for the four hundred dollars had been mailed. 

“My contract with Father was for me to pay four per 
cent on the money, but by the time the first installment was 
due, he gave me the money, also giving each of the 
children the same amount. 

“As usual, my husband and my parents were bitterly op¬ 
posed to my plan to build a home, arguing that we should 


108 


A BORN NURSE 


sell the other two homes and build a very nice dwelling 
house for the family. As I tried to plan for the building on 
the lots I soon realized that they were not going to be large 
enough for the housing and grounds I wanted, so I told my 
family that if I could find a more suitable place for my idea 
of the home I contemplated, a dwelling may be erected on 
the lots I had bought; then Khase and I started out to find 
a place that was wooded and had a creek of water on it if 
possible. A whole day was spent looking for a place such as 
I desired, but to no avail. In a round about way I heard of 
ten acres of land for sale, and went at once to see about it. 
I found that beautiful pines graced the plot of ground, and 
I desired it so much. Although I had been saving every 
penny I did not have enough to buy the ten acres. We had 
quite a nice sum of money tied up in real estate, but I did 
not have the place I wanted. A gentleman in town had been 
recommended to me as being a fair and square dealer from 
whom to borrow, so I decided to call on him and en¬ 
deavor to negotiate a loan to finish paying for the land. 

“When I called on him and explained my errand and the 
purpose for which the property was to be used, he thought 
it was a grand idea, but regarding the money problem, he 
asked me if my Father could help me with it. ‘Oh, sure,’ I 
told him. ‘He could complete the home and let me repay 
him in installments if he wanted to, but that my parents and 
family are very much opposed to the home. They feel that 
it is just a whim of mine to want to operate a place with so 
much responsibility attached to it, therefore I am strictly 
on my own to fight to the finish for this home,’ so he stated 
the contract would be ready the next day or so, asking me 
to return to sign it and get the money I needed. Well, the 
first real step toward the home had been taken . . . Had I 
not gone for six years to the little knoll of earth and asked 
God for a place to erect a house of worship . . . and today 
it stands! AND SO WILL THIS NURSING HOME, 
though how many years I may have to keep faith to see it 
completed I do not know. 

“Referring to the two former homes: they were sold, and 
my husband built a brick dwelling on the lots I had first 


A BORN NURSE 


109 


bought for the nursing home. Many azaleas, roses, hydran¬ 
gea, gardenias and many other flowers have been planted to 
beautify our home.” 

Yes, I noticed that many new plants had been placed 
around the house as I came up the walk. How many of the 
azaleas do you have?” Jewel asked. 

Well, there were one hundred of them at the time we 
set them out, but some of them have died; yet there is a 
goodly number of them left.” 

“Are you specializing in any particular color, Kassie?” 

“Quite a few of them are the Mobile rose, and I believe 
the white is next in number; I have not decided yet which 
color of azalea is the prettiest. I have some of the pink noes, 
also the dwarf variety as well as the larger ones.” 

“Kassie, there is one thing I have not been able to figure 
out as yet.” 

“What is that, Jewel?” 

“Well, the building of this lovely home ... I am sure you 
have invested considerable money in it. . . Why did you put 
the money in it when you knew you could have gone a long 
way toward establishing the home you speak of?” 

“Well, you are one more to be added to the list of those 
who have asked me the same question.” 

“If you have a reason that you wish to keep secret, just 
forget that I asked the question,” said Jewel. 

“Why I don’t mind at all telling you the reason. Jewel, I 
have had offers of a good price for the lots here before the 
home was constructed as the location was a good place to 
establish a business structure; I would not sell, because my 
husband and children wanted a house built, so I quit trying 
to change them from their way of thinking. Furthermore, 
I had to take into consideration the fact that my husband 
put his money into the homes we had owned. He is bitter 
enough already toward the nursing home I wish to build 
that had I taken money out of the sale of the property we 
sold, and then something should happen that I did not meet 
with success—” 

“No need for you to say anything more: I can see the pic¬ 
ture you could paint.” 


110 


A BORN NURSE 


“Yes, that is how it is. Anyway I have reserved a room 
for which I have bought equipment, and I intend to have a 
first-class Beauty Shoppe.” 

“Oh, that door leading in from the side of the house— 
that must be the Beauty parlor?” 

“Yes, it is. I intend to keep the profit from the work I 
do here and a certain amount of my wages, in a separate 
fund, to be applied to the building-fund of the nursing 
home.” 

“How about the family when you get the nursing home 
built—will they continue to live here in this house? Isn’t the 
land you purchased for the purpose of the home quite a 
distance for you to commute to work?” 

“Jewel, there is no doubt in my mind but that the family 
will be very proud of the home when it is completed. They 
will not have to live in the home with the patients and guests, 
for I really intend to have a nice dwelling very close to the 
home for the family to live in, and this one can be rented 
out for a tidy sum. The family-life can go on as usual. The 
children’s socials—their voice and piano practice. They can 
live as they do now.” 

“Why, yes; I cannot see any reason why they could not 
do so,” Jewel said thoughtfully. “Personally I think it is a 
wonderful idea, and hope to see the building completed. I 
have been wondering about something.” 

“Yes, Jewel, what is it you are wondering about?” Kas- 
sie asked, a little anxiously. 

“You know that, if you could think of something which 
would create interest and secure help to raise funds for this 
home, perhaps it could be finished sooner and of course that 
would mean taking care of some of the dear old people you 
have mentioned.” 

“Yes, Jewel; have you a suggestion?” 

“Kassie, have you ever thought of writing a book? You 
certainly have had a life filled with experiences varied 
enough to write about.” 

“Jewel, as a matter of fact, I have discussed that very 
thing with a friend of mine, whose heart is full of sympathy 
for the ill and needy. She says nursing is entirely out of her 


A BORN NURSE 


111 


line of work; unless it is compulsory she does not go around 
the sick very much. Oh, we have had several chats. As I 
told you before, my twin sister died at a very early age, and 
I have never ceased to feel a longing for her presence. This 
friend I am speaking of seems to understand me, and what 
I am striving to accomplish. In my heart I believe that she 
was sent providentially to help fill the void caused by the 
loss of my twin ... of course, as far as some absent one’s 
place can be filled.” 

Well, don’t forget I have offered the furnishings for one 
room,” Jewel reminded her friend. 

“There will also be an undenominational chapel where all 
can worship as they please.” 

“Well, that is an excellent idea; there could be many 
hours of devotion for the ones not confined to their beds. I 
know of a home for the aged in another state which has a 
room where there can be singing, messages of cheer spoken, 
and where any denomination can donate its time and talents 
for the good of the people. A good idea . . . yes, a good 
idea,” Jewel said. 

“Yes, I thought it was a wonderful idea—a beautiful 
thought,” Kassie said reverently. 

“Not meaning to change the subject, Kassie, but have 
you been happy in the work at the hospital with us?” 

“Yes, I have. I have made many friends; in fact, I have 
names from almost every state in the Union, and also from 
England and Scotland, waiting to hear that I have estab¬ 
lished the home so they can send me souvenirs for it and to 
advertise the home for me. Surely it must be completed, and 
soon, I hope.” 

“Jewel, you asked me if I had been happy at the hospital 
—” Kassie paused and said, “There was one unhappiness I 
suffered. At whose hands I do not know.” 

“What was that?” Jewel asked. 

“I am sure you remember at the close of the second world 
conflict, or near to the close of it, there were many nurses’ 
meetings being held in the hospital.” 

“Yes, I remember that,” Jewel said, nodding her head in 
affirmation. 


112 


A BORN NURSE 


“As the meetings progressed the undergraduates were 
excluded from the meetings.” 

“Yes,” Jewel said slowly. 

“One morning as I entered the hospital I was asked to 
remove my cap. ‘Why?’ I asked. I had been wearing it for 
eighteen months in the hospital. I was told that I lacked just 
a few days of finishing a year of training, therefore I was 
not eligible to wear it.” 

“Yes, I remember,” Jewel said in a whisper, mostly to 
herself, for the meetings behind closed doors to the under¬ 
graduate came back clearly. Many things had been dis¬ 
cussed in those meetings. 

“I worked in training for six months, the students hav¬ 
ing been informed that they had earned their caps therefore 
they could wear them on duty, any time, any place . . . has 
the state ruling been changed as to that?” Kassis said, as 
she quickly brushed away a tear that was coursing down her 
cheek. 

“Kassie, really, I cannot understand it. I believe the rules 
are rather too strict for a nurse to obey but still the handi¬ 
cap of being an undergraduate makes other students more 
determined to carry on.” 

“I shed many tears over the loss of my cap. The Nurse at 
the desk tried to console me, and one of the doctors stand¬ 
ing there said, ‘Cheer up! It is what is in your head and 
not on the top of it that counts.’ Sure, that was one way to 
look at it.” 

“That is right. I would try not to worry over the cap 
while, nevertheless, it appears to me you deserve it; how¬ 
ever, my dear, it is not what I think about it that matters.” 

“True, I was only one of many to wonder about it, I 
suppose,” Kassie said, as she unfolded an refolded a hand¬ 
kerchief. 

“Otherwise the work had been all you expected it to be?” 

“Yes. One time though my heart was very sad when one 
of the student nurses died of a very rare disease just before 
graduation exercises. We were all saddened on this occa¬ 
sion. She was a beautiful and sweet-tempered girl. She was 
laid to rest with her diploma in her hand and dressed in a 


A BORN NURSE 


113 


snow-white uniform, also her cap.” 

“Jewel, I have had some experience with all the work 
that has to be done in the hospital here and, now as you 
know, I am in charge of the nursery, assisting in the delivery 
room.” 

“Two of the nurses recently went to a convention at 
which one of them explained what I was endeavoring to do 
toward building a home for the aged. The nurses at the 
hospital have been wonderful to work with . . . very under¬ 
standing.” 

“That is true Kassie; I have found them to be very con¬ 
siderate of everyone’s rights and mutually helpful.” As 
Jewel began putting on her gloves to leave she said, “Kas¬ 
sie, it is approaching late evening, so I must go back to the 
nurses’ home. I assure you I have enjoyed spending the 
day with you . . . May I ask a favor of you before I go?” 

“Certainly,” Kassie replied. 

“I wish you would keep a diary, recording the events con¬ 
cerning the progress being made toward establishing a home 
for the aged which you have seen in your dreams for so 
many years.” 

“I will, and here will be the way it will read when my 
‘Dream Home for the elderly’ is complete.” 


PART II 

THE DIARY 
March 

One month since Jewel spent the day with me. The first 
entry in the diary of interest respecting the progress of the 
nursing home is a gift of money from my Father, which will 
be placed in the building fund. (He often gives a sum of 
money to each of the children.) 

New clothes would be welcome, but I will be contented 
with my old ones this spring. 

April 

Another month has passed. Set out hydrangea cuttings 
to form roots—blue, pink; also some white ones promised 
me by a friend. 


May 

The last two weeks of this month have been difficult for 
me. The family has been very restless, insisting that I stay 
home and keep house. 

I will soon have my vacation of a week or two then per¬ 
haps I can attend to the many little things that the family 
wants done. 


June 

Good news! Today a Beautician applied for permission 
to operate my beauty shoppe. She has a wonderful personal¬ 
ity, is clean, neatly attired, and seems to possess the abilitv 
to manage a shoppe. I am very happy. 

July 

I was agreeably surprised when I counted my savings— 
pennys, nickels, and dimes along with a few dollar bills 
crammed into my “bank” an empty coffee can, “hoarded” to 
add to the building fund. 

Slowly but surely creeping toward the goal! 


114 


A BORN NURSE 


115 


August 

All the children away on vactions. 

Have been going over the plans of the nursing home, and 
made a few changes in them. 

Saved money by sewing lots of the children’s school 
clothes. 


September 

Opening of school over again; settled down to daily 
routine. 

Khase has asked me again to forget about building the 
nursing home. Oh, if I could only get him to understand 
that I can never abandon my purpose! What will be the 
solution to the problem? 


October 

Today Jewel accepted a position in another state. She is 
going to miss institutional work; nevertheless it is a grand 
opportunity for her. A very wealthy lady employed her to 
be companion, nurse, dietician, and chauffeur. 

There will be travel, sight-seeing, a good salary and 
pretty clothes, but I wonder if she will not soon yearn for 
her uniform and cap. 

I hope she will be very happy. 

November 

Clearings made on the grounds of the nursing-home-to-be 
for setting out fruit trees. 

Eleven apple trees set out. Some people say that to plant 
apple trees was a waste of time; that within a few years the 
rust—presumably from pine trees, would kill them. Well, 
that remains to be seen. The trees are planted. 

Eleven peach trees. There are pink, and the white-blos¬ 
som varieties planted. 

Seven pear trees planted, and five apricot trees. It is said 
that apricots flourish only in some sections of China—we 
will see if that be true. 


116 


A BORN NURSE 


Three plum trees. (No comments.) 

A plot of ground for fig trees . . . Some of the pale yellow, 
but more of the purplish black, variety planted. 

There was some doubt in my mind as to the advisability 
of planting cherry trees, but my good friend who is striving 
to assist me to acquire funds to build the nursing home, was 
born and reared in a State that has been successful in grow¬ 
ing cherry trees. In our discussion of the subject she inform¬ 
ed me that she knew of no reason why they would not thrive 
in the State of Georgia, and that the Montmorency or the 
Early Richmond were good varieties for making pies or for 
canning, the Montmorency being her choice. When I asked 
about how many trees I should plant, she responded with a 
teasing remark as to how many cherry pies I thought would 
be consumed in a year’s time, topped with ice cream. Eight 
Montmorencys and three Early Richmonds were decided on. 

November has been a wonderful month for me. A local 
contractor has offered to landscape the grounds of the 
home when it is ready to be done, and the owner of a nur¬ 
sery said to let her know when the home was ready and 
she would make a gift of shrubbery for the grounds. 

Wisteria vines have been planted in out-of-the-way places 
on the plot, therefore they will not interfere with landscap¬ 
ing. 

One dozen climbing rose cuttings appear to have taken 
root. 


December 

There will not be a tinkle of coins into the coffee-can bank 
for the building fund this month as Santa will be making 
his eagerly looked-for appearance with gifts for the chil¬ 
dren. 

A very busy month. Programs at the school; Christmas 
tree programs at the church; children busy with rehearsals. 

Gift-shopping, and sweets to be made. And housekeeping 
lagging in attention! 


A BORN NURSE 


117 


January 

Another New Year’s day, with an extra effort made to do 
a good deed for some one. 

A card from Jewel saying she is enjoying the California 
weather. A letter last week said a trip to Canada was being 
planned for next summer, and that she was enjoying every 
moment of her new job. I can well imagine that. A wonder¬ 
ful person. 

More than the usual sum set aside, out of my wages for 
the building; there was no progress made except in the mat¬ 
ter of the savings. 


February 

A year has sped by, and I believe that within the next 
year I will find the corner stone laid for the nursing home. 

The tedious budget-scheming I have tried to follow has 
well repaid me. The old dresses that I have remodeled and 
turned has worn well; very few people even guessed that 
they were old ones. 

Quite a pleasing incident occurred today. One year ago, 
today, Eleanor brought in an arm load of forsythia or 
golden bells, as they are often called. Well today another 
arm load of the pretty blossoms adorn the room, thanks to 
Eleanor. 

Several months have slipped by, and today I have marked 
the beautiful, tall whispering pines that I wish to keep 
around the home. Some of them are huge ones. 

As the clearing is made for the building, I can feel my 
nerves tingling even to the very tips of my fingers. 

All the fruit trees are doing nicely and a grape arbor was 
added last spring. 

My heart thrills as every load of bricks is stacked in neat 
rows for the preparation for work. The framing has been 
cut from the timber of the home site; nails and cement have 
been purchased. A very deep well will furnish water for 
the home and a pump installed at the artificial lake to supply 
any amount of water that might be needed. 

It has been a long trail of disappointments and so many 


118 


A BORN NURSE 


discouraging words uttered and I presume there will still be 
many more before the home is completed. I believe now that 
Khase is more excited over the whole idea than he is show¬ 
ing. That is since the building is actually beginning. The 
financial status was very discouraging to think of at first. 
Yes, indeed; but little by little the funds are ample to carry 
on. 

Linen for one wing of the building has been ordered and 
the rooms will be done in colors—bedspreads and curtains 
in matching colors to harmonize with the color of the room. 

Patients or guests may use their own favorite scarfs for 
the furniture in their rooms if they wish ... I want to see 
them happy . . . ready with a cheerful “Good morning” to 
every one. 

The last bucket of cement smoothed on the semi-circle 
driveway then the pretty Neon sign turned on in the eve¬ 
ning with the words: “Welcome to Sunny Brook.” My heart 
beats a little faster as I gaze at the home through the majes¬ 
tic tall pines and observing the colored help working long 
hours giving last touches to window cleaning and perform¬ 
ing other necessary tasks. 

My bookkeeper’s desk ready for her . . . our tears flowed 
freely as we stood in the corridor close by the chapel door. 
This has been a long hard drive for us . . . and the book she 
wrote was a success ... I am very thankful and happy be¬ 
yond words to express it. 

The first one to ask for a room was a very sweet, elderly 
lady with silver hair and gloved hands. The beautiful or¬ 
chid-colored dress with soft touches of lace made her a pic¬ 
ture of beauty. She wished to reserve a room for four 
weeks while her family was away on a vacation. 

Either of two rooms would be nice to show her; so the 
green one was shown first. I felt sure she would like it be¬ 
cause it harmonized with her lovely orchid ensemble. 

She was pleased with that room with its pale green linen 
and maple furniture, which was reserved for her. 

Before the building was completely ready for opening 
days all the rooms in one wing of it were engaged 
by some of the old folks that I had known prior to starting 


A BORN NURSE 


119 


the home. Now the second wing of the building will have 
to be hurried to completion and opened. Happiness over¬ 
flows in my heart as I see the rooms applied for by patients 
and guests. The wonderful work was now getting under way. 

After an elapse of five years, since the lovely nurse, 
Jewel, had accepted the position of caring for the elderly 
but active lady the luxurious automobile that was stopped 
on the semicircular driveway contained the two ladies. 

There a wonderful view greeted them, for around the 
semicircle was a profusion of blooming azaleas. Just two 
colors here in the half circle—the fiery red Hinodegiri, and 
the beautiful white Snow, vying with each other in color—a 
red, then a white; and -then the smaller semicircle formed 
by the two banistered pathways in the form of steps are 
bordered with red and white japonica shrubs, while the close- 
in corners are made beautiful by the evergreen arborvitae. 

Two graceful ferns on the platform porch lending their 
charm to the entrance of the reception room. 

After greetings were over and introductions made, the 
guests was made comfortable in the spacious living room. 
Susie, the favorite colored maid of the kitchen, served coffee 
and donuts. Jewel, tumbling one question over the other, 
could hardly wait to rest a few moments before exploring 
the entire home and grounds. 

The visit was unexpected, but Jewel was passing through 
while en route to another state, but to stop and see the home 
and her friend was just a “must” visit. As she viewed the 
furnishings of the living room she remarked to the hostess, 
“Kassie, I have been eagerly waiting for you to get the home 
completed so I could hear the rest of the story . . . have 
you kept the diary? 

“Yes, I have,” Kassie said. 

“I have been admiring the living room, especially the 
Victorian sofa and chair with their red plush covering, the 
marble-topped table with the quaint looking lamp in the 
center, the lavender asters hand-painted on the shade and 
oil bowl, with its base made of brass, is beautiful indeed. 
Oh it must be an old, old lamp!” Jewel exclaimed. 

“Yes, it is. An elderly lady donated the lamp. She brought 


120 


A BORN NURSE 


it along with some of her cherished possessions, and wanted 
us to enjoy it,” said Kassie, feelingly. 

“Is she still living with you?” Jewel asked. 

“She passed away last fall—She was getting along in 
years, passing away in her sleep one afternoon.” 

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Jewel exclaimed. 

“Jewel, you remember Doctor K. ? We went to see him 
just before you entered upon the duties of your new job: 
he donated these two lovely old-fashioned love seats.” 

“How wonderful of him to do that. I enjoyed meeting 
him very much. Has he retired from practice?” 

“Yes; I heard he has a hobby of raising white mice or 
rats, I have forgotten which; an experimenting institution 
is supposed to buy them from him.” 

“Oh, I see. That helps to pass the time at a profit, I can 
imagine. I still remember the dahlia garden at his home, 
and the basket of peach-colored dahlias on the porch. I be¬ 
lieve he called them the “Ragged Dahlia”; really, I think 
the blooms were as large as a dinner-plate.” 

“I agree,” Kassie said, “They were the finest blossoms I 
have ever seen.” 

“Kassie, I have been admiring the pictures on the wall, 
and the oddities in the room, the number of chairs and set¬ 
tees, the piano—all accentuating welcome.” 

“Thank you, Jewel; that is the sentiment I wished to 
create.” 

“All the vases, and baskets of pretty flowers in the room 
—how do you manage to have so many? I am really asking 
many questions, but I am very much interested,” Jewel said. 

“Quite all right, my dear; I am glad you are interested.” 

“Jewel, there are many of the patients who spend con¬ 
siderable time here in the living room and ask that the 
flowers sent by friends be placed in the room close by their 
favorite sitting place; some of them spend time knitting, 
crocheting, tatting, and do a surprising amount of em¬ 
broidering. The runner for the top of the piano was made 
by several of the patients. One did the drawn work, the 
other the lace work. Oh, just to think of the different things 
they did! You should see some of the beautiful work some 


A BORN NURSE 


121 


of them have in their rooms. And, Jewel, I have one lady 
who is blind; she comes down to sit with the others in the 
room. One of the patients made a beautiful crochet dresser 
scarf and pillow top for her room. When she presented the 
art work to the blind patient and explained that it was of 
a rose design, she had such a sweet expression on her face 
as she said that the rose design was her favorite pattern and 
at one time, years ago, she had crocheted wide lace in the 
design for pillowcases and dresser set. Oh, she appreciated 
it so very much.” 

“I can well imagine them reading and doing the things 
they wish to do; of course, they all have a regular rest 
period?” 

“Well, most of them take their rest hours between three 
and five.” 

“Kassie, I am happy that you assigned my patient and 
me to the pretty pink and blue room on the second floor 
which gives her such a pretty view from the windows . . . 
really, I cannot wait to see the whole place. And now that 
she is resting let’s go and explore the building and grounds.” 

“All right,” Kassie said; “we will start by explaining 
that the building was designed in the form of an H.” 

“Yes, I noticed that as I drove up today. And why did 
you choose the letter H?” 

“Well the H shape provides for making additions to the 
building as I might need more space in the future. And, too, 
H stands for Haven.” 

“Yes, sure. Haven of rest for the old folks,” Jewel said. 

“Now here on the right of us is the Chapel room the 
doors of which are never closed. Any of the folks wishing 
to do so may visit the altar. We have numerous groups to 
come and sing for us, and it surely is appreciated by all. 
You remember, I told you before that any denomination 
would be welcome to use the chapel room for worship.” 

“Yes, I recall that, and it is truly wonderful, and I am 
glad,” Jewel said, as she fondly looked at the carpeted aisle 
leading to the pulpit, then Kassie continued to show her 
friend the home she was so proud of. 

“Here on the left of the corridor is the beauty salon.” 


122 


A BORN NURSE 


“Oh, you did provide for a beauty parlor—that is just 
grand,” Jewel remarked. 

“It is really and truly a boost to the morale of the pa¬ 
tients. Every Friday is set aside for the work in the beauty 
parlor, and every patient comes in to have her work done— 
by appointment—that is, those who are able to come. As 
you may notice, there is sufficient equipment to do all kinds 
of work: permanents, cold waves, shampoos, manicures . . . 
Oh, they all look so well after being groomed to greet their 
friends and to gather in the Chapel on Sunday mornings. 

“Here on the right of us is the dining room just beyond 
the Chapel.” 

“Oh, it is so very pretty . . . and the space . . . really it is 
ideal. And the basket of flowers for the room—do you buy 
them yourself? Please ignore that question; they seem to 
be so expensive that I asked that question before I thought.” 

“Jewel, I do not know who sends the flowers for the 
dining room; but every week except the first six, since the 
home has been opened, the flowers have mysteriously ar¬ 
rived on Saturday mornings with the request that they be 
used in the dining room. There is no name signed, just a 
card with the words, ‘Your Sunshine Friends,’ written on it.” 

“Are they usually of such expensive variety?” Jewel 
asked. 

“Yes. I remember one time there were four dozen perfect 
yellow roses sent in. To be sure, curiosity once got the best 
of me, so I asked the delivery boy who sent the flowers; 
he merely smiled and said, ‘No, mam; I sho don’t know.’ 
And that is the only answer I get with my inquiries as to who 
makes the gift of the lovely flowers.” 

“Presenting flowers to the home is surely a wonderful 
thing to do, and if the donor wishes to remain anonymous, 
I hope you will never be able to trace them.” 

“You see the beautiful mirror over the buffet—it was also 
donated mysteriously by a person, or persons—here, the 
card is still attached by this ribbon. It says, ‘For the dining 
room.’ I would never have imagined receiving such a lovely 
gift without the name of the giver being shown. 

“Now here next to the dining room is the kitchen. You 


A BORN NURSE 


123 


noticed the swinging door leading out of the dining room I 
suppose?” Kassie asked. 

Yes, I did, Jewel replied. “I meant to ask where it led 

to.” 

“Well, we do not necessarily need to use the hall door 
to the kitchen, although we will enter by it this time.” 

Kassie, I must say the kitchen is well equipped for serv¬ 
ice umm . . . deep freeze box . . . plenty of built-in cabi¬ 
nets, counters on which to work, scales, mix master, toaster, 
sufficient stove space, everything seems to have been well 
planned. A door to enter from the side of the building, and 
the screened porch: the chefs should be proud of the ar¬ 
rangements.” 

“On down the hall are two large bedrooms, now occupied 
by two elderly couples, who have access to a porch where 
they may sit in the fresh air, so they appear to be very 
happy here.” 

“Are the two elderly couples all the people you have liv¬ 
ing here?” 

“Yes, at present. I have been planning to build a breeze¬ 
way to a few cottages a short distance from the main build¬ 
ings that would provide space for old couples who do not 
wish to be separated; in fact I have been asked to provide 
such cottages.” 

“I had not thought of that; but, Kassie, I think the idea 
is grand. My gracious! You will soon have a small town 
here.” 

“On the left of us, from the beauty parlor, are bedrooms 
and at the back of the reception room is the supply room. 

“Now for the upstairs rooms: one wing of the building 
is reserved for patients who need absolute rest and quiet. 

“There are only bedrooms and the necessary supply room 
on the second floor. And I have space for welfare babies.” 

“Welfare Babies?” Jewel asked in surprise. 

“Sure! You haven’t heard one of them cry since you have 
been here?” Kassie asked. 

“No. They must be very good babies,” Jewel said teas- 
ingly. 

“The nurse, and aide who take care of the nursery, love 


124 


A BORN NURSE 


children, neither of them having been blessed with children 
of their own. When the babies reach a certain age, they are 
taken to another home. We become so attached to them, 
that it is rather sad for us when we have to give them up.” 

“Yes, I can well imagine that.” 

“Here, let us go up this stairway and see the nursery,” 
Kassie said. “Now this section of the nursery is for the 
older babies, and as you can see it is arranged for a sun- 
parlor for them as well. The middle section is for the next 
oldest ones, then the tiny infants, of course.” 

“Kassie, I believe you said there was a nurse and an aide 
to care for the babies; do they take care of all the work that 
these babies require? Everything is so spick and span, and 
the children spotless.” 

“Oh, no. Every afternoon when the children are taking 
their rest and sleep, the floors are mopped clean by the 
maids, the play toys washed, and all furniture cleaned of 
dust; of course, at bathing time, if there are as many as I 
have now, more help is given for the task.” 

“Really and truly you have assumed a great deal of re¬ 
sponsibility here.” 

“Yes, I agree; but I am happy. Many times at night when 
everything is quiet, I stroll through the building to see that 
all is well. I have a very reliable nursing staff, aides, and 
two maids who take over during the night shift. 

“I often think of the Superintendent of the training school 
and her habit of walking through the hospital at almost any 
time of the night. She seemed to be trying to snoop and 
creep around, frightening the students out of their wits.” 

“Kassie, when there is a beautiful moon shining on this 
lovely place, I wonder that you try to sleep at all at night . ... 
just be honest now—do you?” 

“Well, since you are so inquisitive, really I have enjoyed 
walking among the flowers in the moonlight. Their perfume 
seems to be more fragrant in the still night air and, honestly 
when the moon is very bright, there is a mockingbird that 
sings as if its little heart would burst. I believe a pair of 
them have a nest close by every year. Many is the time I 
have slipped on my house coat and sat on one of the porches 


A BORN NURSE 


125 


to listen to its singing. It is only on the nights when the moon 
shines bright that I have noticed the singing of the birds.” 

Jewel, I didn’t ask if you had gotten through looking at 
the nursery rooms; we just kept on going down the corri¬ 
dor.” 

“Well, I could spend a half day in the nursery looking at 
all those little tots. There was one with golden curls and 
blue eyes, a perfect darling; how anyone could not want her, 
but gave her away I do not understand.” 

“That was indeed a strange case. Perhaps the mother 
did want her child.” 

“What about the child?” Jewel asked. “It seems to me 
the mother could keep her if she wanted to. Did she bring 
it here?” 

“No,” Kassie said. “All the babies here are placed 
through the welfare, and of course that office keeps the first 
records of them. The child referred to was placed on the 
door steps of a very elderly couple. The little tyke was 
dressed in a neat, white, lace-trimmed dress and covered 
with an infant’s size hand-made patchwork quilt, she having 
been found in an ordinary market basket.” 

“What about the elderly couple—didn’t they want the 
child? I guess there were many things to be considered pre¬ 
cluding its adoption,” Jewel said. 

“Oh, certainly; they were too feeble to take the respon¬ 
sibility of raising a child,” Kassie said, as she quietly closed 
the screen door behind them. 

“Here we are in the yard; shall we look around the 
grounds ?” 

“Yes, indeed!” Jewel said. “I have been gazing out of 
every window at the azaleas through the woodland. Honest¬ 
ly, Kassie, how many plants do you think you have in bloom 
now?” 

“Not having counted them, I just don’t know. Perhaps 
you would like to see them first. As you see, they are 
massed throughout the entire grounds. Observe that I have 
flagstone pathways in the garden instead of concrete.” 

“I have noticed that,” Jewel said, “and I like them very 
much. Flagstone pathways . . . iris, and jonquils ... all seem 


126 


A BORN NURSE 


to be in harmony with the spring of the year. Pray tell me 
what is the name of this bed of brilliant orange-red aza¬ 
leas?” 

“That one, my dear, is the President Clay; it is very 
hardy and a prolific free bloomer. Also notice that there are 
seven massed in this bed. In the next one are five of the 
Indica Alba; I believe they have larger blossoms than the 
Snow. 

“Here are the Coral Bells. I have only five of them. They 
are very much sought after, therefore rather difficult to 
buy as many as I would like to have.” 

“And what are the names of these—rose pink and al¬ 
most red—seems that I saw a lot of them somewhere,” 
Jewel said as she tried to think where it was she had seen 
so many of them in bloom. 

“Jewel, that one was named after a city, and has made 
that city famous the world over; now can’t you guess the 
name?” 

“Pride of Mobile ! Of course, now I remember.” 

You may recall having sent me a card when you visited 
Mobile. I still have it in my desk,” Kassie said. 

Kassie continued: “I have some of almost every variety 
of azaleas—Elegans, they are the light pink; Mimosa, Sal¬ 
mon Beauty, Pink Pearl, and many others. 

“Jewel, have you noticed the white plank fence around 
the home? I take a great deal of pride in it.” 

“Indeed I have, and I meant to mention it just a moment 
or so ago. What do you call the pattern of the board fence ?” 

“Oh, merely a criss-cross plank fence, I suppose, painted 
white,” Kassie said. 

“Kassie, name it the Lexington fence right now—and 
I am sure you would like to know the reason for the name.” 

“Yes, as you have aroused my curiosity.” 

“Well, several years ago, while on my vacation, I was 
traveling through the Blue Grass State. This pretty white 
board fence reminds me of the fine farms near the city of 
the name I suggested. Oh it was a glorious morning! The 
sun was making its radiant appearance presaging a bright 
and cloudless day, while we vacationers (there were three 


A BORN NURSE 


127 


ladies and the husband of one of them in our party) de¬ 
cided to have breakfast a short distance from the City of 
Lexington. Near the highway was a lake of clear water, 
the grass there was well taken care of—so very pretty and 
green, so we stopped the car and all of us got out, sat upon 
the grass to drink our coffee from thermos bottles and eat 
home-made rolls spread with jelly and butter provided by 
one of the girls. 

“We had traveled quite a distance during the night, so 
it was delightful just to sit on the luxurious grass and enjoy 
our breakfast while our eyes roamed over the scenery which 
was formed in part of the attractive white painted board 
fences enclosing farm, with pastures so green, and dotted 
with what I presume were thoroughbred horses. They were 
graceful, beautiful animals. All in all it was a pretty pic¬ 
ture—and this fence is of the same pattern.” 

“Jewel, wait here for a few moments; I am going on an 
errand,” Kassie said. 

“Sure, go right on,” Jewel said. “I will wait here on this 
bench for you to return. 

“You back so soon, Kassie? What do you have there?” 

“Why, Jewel, I have a large bottle of water from one of 
the lily pools, so if you wish you may christen the fence.” 

“Oh, that will be wonderful. I will break the bottle of 
water on this solid post and ‘I christen thee, The Lexing¬ 
ton Fence; may you serve this home for many years to 


come * 

“Well, my dear, that was quite a nice dedication. In April 
and May there are deep red rambler roses blooming on the 
fence, although they are still young now, they present a 
pretty sight.” 

“No doubt of it, Kassie; and the drive goes completely 
around the place.” 

“It does; but I have forgotten how many of the rambler 
rose plants were required to set along the entire fence, but 
I kept a record of them . . . Now if you like we will see the 

ldy pools^id ^ pleased to see t he m ,” Jewel said. “Kassie, 


128 


A BORN NURSE 


you have surely provided plenty of benches on which to 
rest.” 

“My son delighted in building the benches around the 
trees. And, too, Khase has taken quite an interest since the 
place began to look real. You remember how he loathed the 
idea when it existed only in my mind?” 

“I certainly remember,” Jewel laughed. “He called it your 
brainstorm. His change of heart is really almost unbeliev¬ 
able, which proves that patience and perseverance exert 
much influence in the world. Yours reminds me of the 
‘Patience of Job’.” 

“Verily I have had my share of disappointments, some 
of them very bitter. Many were the times when I felt I had 
reached the end of the row in striving to become a nurse, 
then something would happen to plunge me deeper into the 
profession. Now I am glad that, with the help of God, I 
was able to endure and conquer.” 

“Jewel, this little path is called ‘Rainbow Trail,’ because 
along it you will see the lily pools in color—the first one 
pink, the next green, and so on—blue, lavender, and a pale 
yellow. It is too early in the season to see their real beauty. 
Here by the pink pool is a blue flowering hydrangea and 
notice the small rock garden. Then by the green-colored 
pool blooms the pink hydrangea with the rock garden be¬ 
tween them; the blue pool has a pink hydrangea, the laven¬ 
der pool, a pink one, and the yellow pool, a blue hydrangea. 
I have as many different kinds of water lilies for the pools 
as I can find.” 

“Kassie, this is a small park: pools, flowers, rock gar¬ 
dens between every pool, and the little white bridges fas¬ 
cinate me. Have you ever thought of building a miniature 
rock castle here among the gardens and pools?” 

“No, I haven’t thought of it; nevertheless that would 
give it the finishing touch. Have you ever seen a small 
castle such as the one you have in mind?” 

“Yes, I have; it was in a beautiful park. There was a 
section of the park given to the art work of the miniature 
castles and other buildings. Who made the little structures, 
I don’t know, but your husband, being a carpenter, has the 


A BORN NURSE 


129 


ability to draw up the plans, and I know you could arrange 
to get the odd-shaped rocks for the purpose. Anyone who 
could gather the varied shaped rocks you have in the mason¬ 
ry of the fireplace in the living room of the home could, I 
am sure, get them for you.” 

“Perhaps within the next year, if you can make another 
visit to Sunny Brook you will find the miniature castle, at 
which time there will have to be another christening.” 

“What do you mean, Kassie?” 

“You know the castle would have to be named, and of 
course it would be the ‘Jewel Castle’.” 

“I am really getting so many thrills out of this visit. The 
Jewel Castle!” she repeated. 

“Now this bench, made out of rocks, would be ideal in 
the plan of the miniature city ... I can hardly wait to reveal 
to my son the plan I have in mind; you just wait,” Kassie 
added. 

“Jewel, the pools could be illuminated in the evenings 
which would be a beautiful spectacle. . . I am sure you 
noticed the goldfish in the pools—how they stay there is 
beyond me. The children have pets; I think there are three 
or four Persian cats around here, and I have seen them 
trying so desperately to catch the goldfish. I suppose the 
lily pads help to protect them.” 

“Come, Jewel, let’s stroll down to the lake—of course it 
is an artificial one, and even if it is not large, as you will see, 
it is stocked with fish at which the patients may spend many 
pleasant hours fishing. Naturally there will be some one in 
attendance during such times to take care of them. 

“The island in the center of the lake was left there pur- 
posedly to form a beauty spot. On it is a weeping willow, 
which has been there only three years. While it was rather 
large when set out, it has grown considerably. The love-seat, 
painted white, was placed under it last summer. 

“Rose bushes thrive on the island: I have three colors 
growing there—the Victoria, Yellow Talisman, and the 
Poinsettia rose.” 

“Kassie, is the weeping willow merely of the common 


130 


A BORN NURSE 


variety? It has such long, drooping branches sweeping the 
ground.” 

“I believe that one is known as the Babylon weeping wil¬ 
low; I love the way the branches gracefully sway when 
stirred by a breeze.” 

“The bridge to the island was constructed of logs, the 
bannisters being painted white, is seldom used, but I enjoy 
walking out to the island occasionally. There on the hillside 
that forms the dam on the opposite side of the lake are the 
tall Greek Pyramidal Juniper trees as a background . . . 
they are lovely things growing sometimes as high as thirty 
feet. Then, of course, there are things such as sweet shrub, 
mountain laurel and honeysuckle; a wisteria clinging grace¬ 
fully to a stately pine tree standing on our right. Before very 
long now we may enjoy the great clusters of beautiful blooms 
on the vine.” 

“Last summer and fall the patients were given an outing 
every evening when possible. Everyone seems to be very 
happy here at the home.” 

“It can easily be seen that you have tried to make the 
home attractive and comfortable for them: any unhappi¬ 
ness developing would have to come from a source beyond 
your control.” 

“Thank you, Jewel. An encouraging word means so much 
to me.” 

“I suppose we should be going back to the home. As we 
walk along the driveway I will point out the interesting 
plants, such as roses, etc., in the garden—But please tell 
me about some of your activities since engaging in your* 
latest job of nursing.” 

“Before I start telling you about my work,” Jewel said, 
“I wish to ask about some of the patients we nursed ... I 
remember three of them who constantly wished that you 
would speedily build a nursing home. How they yearned to 
have a place such as you have here.” 

“Jewel, are you preparing to ask about the retired teacher 
of a public school, and one from a school for the blind, the 
other, the mother of a well-known businessman?” 

“Yes, those are the three. Are they here with you?” 


A BORN NURSE 


131 


No, all of them passed away before the home was built, 
and it touches me very deeply as I remember how they tried 
to hurry me in my efforts to establish the home. Every time 
I saw them they would ask if there were any new develop¬ 
ments toward getting the home started, so the day I told 
them that the deal had been closed for the home site, they 
were overjoyed. But there were so many bitter disappoint¬ 
ments, and impeding obstacles in my struggle to reach my 
goal that, I am sorry to say, they were not spared long 
enough to enjoy the benefits provided by the home.” 

“I am so sorry,” Jewel said. “Anyway, I feel sure that 
you have exerted yourself to the limit in trying to do good 
toward everyone. I wish they could have known that your 
dreams of a home have become a reality.” 

“Kassie, I am not trying to change the subject, but what 
have you planted in the ground here by the drive?” 

“That, my dear, is gladioli. I have about fifty bulbs 
planted. There are several of the Maid of Orleans, which 
are a shimmering white; the Troubadour, a violet-blue; then 
there is the Pink Picardy, with the bold Flaming Sword 
to add a dash of gay color. Over close to the fence, at the 
back of the gladioli bed, is a row of dahlia tubers. There 
are several colors among them—I believe they were specified 
as being the ‘Dixie Dahlia Garden’.” 

“Kassie, you have not said one word about having any 
of the dearly beloved gardenias; now where are they?” 

“Oh, they are down close to the lake. Let us look back. 
You see the large patch of green shrubs there where the 
drive makes the turn for the circle? That contains all the 
gardenias I have. Really, there is not enough room for all 
the things I would like to have. Every foot of land has been 
filled with one thing or another.” 

“I can easily see that. From here I understand why you 
have arranged the garden in a cone-shape, which will be a 
pretty sight after a few years . . . Kassie, do you suppose 
additional land could be obtained, perhaps that adjoining in 
the rear of your property ?” 

“I would like to do that, but for the present every avail¬ 
able dollar is being used in the interest of the home; fur* 


132 


A BORN NURSE 


thermore, that tract of land is owned by colored people who 
claim they can’t sell it. Whether or not an offer of a fancy 
price would change their minds I do not know; but they are 
very quiet and dependable workers, some of them being em¬ 
ployed here. On Sunday mornings, Jewel, two of the colored 
girls roll the wheel-chair patients to the Chapel, and there is 
a place reserved in the rear for our colored employees. I 
have been very fortunate so far in securing colored work¬ 
ers.” 

“If you are ready, we will continue on toward the house. 
Lunch has already been served the patients, the rush hour is 
over, so we can have a late lunch served on the sun-porch if 
you wish, afterward there will be an hour or two for visiting 
the people here. I want you to see all the fancy work they 
are doing.” 

“Good! I am glad I gave you the menu for my patient 
before we started exploring. Really, I had not thought of 
food until you mentioned it, but now I feel that I am al¬ 
most famished,” Jewel said. 

“We would be breaking the rules of the institution by 
restricting our lunch to a crisp salad, so I ordered a nice 
steak dinner with all the trimmings for ourselves at exactly 
two o’clock.” 

“We have thirty minutes in which to finish our walk to 
the house ... by the way, Kassie, what do your parents 
think of the home since you have proceeded with such re¬ 
sistless determination to accomplish your objective?” Jewel 
asked. 

“You know Father’s by-word when he strives to act as if 
he were angry.” 

“Yes, I remember you telling me, ‘Dad-blame it,’ Kassie.” 

“Once when they came on a visit I asked what they 
thought of the home. Mother thought it was very nice, 
especially as our own house is next door where the children 
live as do other children; yes, even to a little scrapping 
among themselves now and then—perfectly normal. But 
Father, my implacable Irish parent, remarked: ‘The home 
is very pretty and will no doubt render a great service to 


A BORN NURSE 


m 


humanity; buh dad-blame it, Kassie, Khase needs you to 
keep house for him’.” 

Oh! those die-hard Irish! You will have to excuse me 
for laughing, but it is really funny, for I imagine he is as 
proud as a peacock over your accomplishment.” 

“Have you ever known him to give up and say that a task 
was too big or difficult for him to handle?” Jewel asked. 

“Yes, there was one which involved so many complications 
that he just did not try,” Kassie replied. 

“No!” Jewel exclaimed in surprise. 

“It is true. Would you like to know what it was?” 

“Indeed! indeed I would,” Jewel said contemplatively. 

“Jewel,” Kassie said, “as you already know, my Father 
is of Irish descent; my great-grandfather came to this coun¬ 
try from the Emerald Isle and settled where now stands one 
of Georgia’s coastal cities. When the immigrants landed on 
the coast they filed homesteads. I understand that my great¬ 
grandfather was a young man at that time. He and my 
great-grandmother were the parents of twelve children. I 
also understand that the conflict between the States was the 
cause of the family becoming separated and, of course as 
in all wars, some of the boys were never heard from, there¬ 
fore the family tree, or records, was lost. As stated, a great 
part of that coastal city is located on the estate of my great¬ 
grandfather and it is so recorded in his name. My Father 
received a letter from a lawyer in that city asking him ta 
come there and investigate the deeds, he being named as. 
one of the heirs of the estate. I suppose you are wondering 
how this information was conveyed to him. A few years 
ago a centennial celebration was held in the seaport city 
and a search through the old records revealed that the deed 
to a large section of the city does belong to my great-grand¬ 
father’s heirs.” 

“My gracious, Kassie, I would think that anything so excit¬ 
ing and important would arouse him into action. You mean 
to tell me he did not go to see the lawyer about the valuable 
information conveyed in the letter?” 

“No. He said the posterity of those twelve children could 
now consist of quite a number of people. You see, I am of 


134 


A BORN NURSE 


the fourth generation—and there are six children in my 
family. Father would be the logical one to investigate the 
matter. I was merely thinking about the multiplicity of the 
people who may be involved. Father said that it had been 
more than a hundred years ago, so he did not know of any¬ 
thing to be done except to clear the title in favor of the 
city; that an effort to claim the land now would result only 
in confusion, so he decided not to disturb the status quo.” 

“I suppose that was the way to dispose of the problem, 
but it surely would have allured me there, if only to see the 
deed which had been made to my ancestors,” said Jewel 
spiritedly. 

Kassie, noticing the time by her watch, said, “Here, we 
have let our time race by now let’s hurry, for our dinner 
will be unfit to eat. My faithful cook, old Hattie, is waving 
to us from the upstairs sun-porch. That is where we will 
have lunch and, as you have not told me one thing about 
yourself, dear lady, tell me of your travels as we dine.” 

“Kassie, as you already know, I was offered the special 
work of nursing through a friend of my mother,” Jewel 
said as she helped herself to another lump of sugar for her 
tea. “The work has proven to be as exciting as I imagined 
it would be from the very first. This dear old lady is as 
sweet and patient as the day is long, and loves to travel. 
How she can spend so many hours riding in an automobile 
I cannot understand, but everything is interesting to her. She 
is a very observant person—in fact, there is no doubt in my 
mind but that she has seen more of the beauty of this place 
through her field glasses from one of the windows in her 
room than I have down there walking around among all 
the plants and shrubs. I ran in to see about her just a mo¬ 
ment before I joined you on the sun-porch and found her 
sitting by the window with her field glasses handy on the 
table beside her. She asked why on the earth were we 
christening a board*fence? She will ask me a thousand ques¬ 
tions tomorrow morning, and I will enjoy answering them. 

“We spent one winter in sunny California. Among my 
duties was to prepare our breakfast, which usually consisted 
of toast and a dish of fruit. The hours from nine to eleven 


A BORN NURSE 


135 


were allowed me to do as I wished. Lunch strictly at twelve 
noon. Then the afternoon was spent reading stories aloud 
to her . . . sometimes she would doze as she rested in the 
lounge-chair. I did not dare stop reading at any time, un¬ 
less she interrupted to ask a question. One afternoon I re¬ 
member quite well: The rain had been falling in torrents 
all day and we had completed our last book; I had intended 
purchasing another one during my time off that day, but 
the rain continued to fall so hard that I could not go out, so 
my patient asked me to send one of the available errand 
boys to purchase a book for her. He was sent in grand style 
—one of the smartest taxis was called for him, he being well 
paid. He was asked to select a best seller. When the book 
was delivered I recognized it at once by its title, but I did 
not say anything about it to her; I was rather anxious how¬ 
ever, and somewhat frightened when I began reading it to 
her. After a few pages were read I kept stealing glances 
to see her frown when some risque word or sentence was 
read; the questionable language was becoming more fre¬ 
quent as I continued to read. I can still see her, in my imagi¬ 
nation, as she sat up straight in her chair, shaking her finger 
at me and saying, ‘Jewel, not another word of that trash! 
Why, my ancestors would turn over in their graves could 
they know I was listening to such language! Now! right 
now! get the scissors and cut every page of it to ribbons and 
put it in the trash basket.’ And do you know that I cut up 
every page of that book? Honestly, she sat there almost 
all the afternoon watching me to make sure no one else 
would read it, stating that not a page of it could be left to 
fall into the hands of anyone because of her carelessness.” 

“Jewel, did she get angry with you?” 

“No, but if I had been responsible for purchasing the 
book, I am sure my good salary would have stopped instant- 
er.” 

“We toured the greater part of the state that winter and 
I think we saw just about everything of interest. She is 
planning a trip to Mexico sometime in the future, and if I 
could speak Spanish instead of French I would be happier.” 


136 


A BORN NURSE 


“Perhaps some day she will go on a trip to France and 
take you on the journey with her,” Kassie said. 

“No, there will not be any ocean trips,” Jewel said. “We 
have traveled from Canada to Florida and Maine to Cali¬ 
fornia, but no sea voyages. Oh, she is a wonderful person, 
always helping some unfortunates to better themselves in 
this old world.” 

“Does she have any children, Jewel?” 

“No, Kassie, she never married, and has no living rela¬ 
tives. However, out of the goodness of her heart she con¬ 
tributes to the welfare of several children in an orphanage 
somewhere.” 

“Jewel, do you suppose she would enjoy meeting some 
of my people?” Kassie asked. “They will be assembled in 
the living room with their needle work and reading matter.” 

“Yes, she already has her crochet ready to go there. She 
is making medallions for an afghan; beautiful colors in deli¬ 
cate shades chosen for the art work, and she would not 
miss an opportunity to display her masterpiece.” 

“Jewel, I will meet you in the living room in about thirty 
minutes—Right?” Kassie asked. 

“Right,” Jewel replied. 

“I have an errand to run,” Kassie said. 

“Sure, sure,” Jewel replied. “I will tidy Miss Mary’s 
hair, and we will join you there at that time.” 

Kassie said to herself as she went to her office, “I must 
hurry and write a last word or so in the Diary Jewel asked 
me to keep as a favor.” 

Dear Diary: For five years we have kept company; many 
pleasant memories recorded, along with the bitter ones. 

Hardships, many times, prepare us to be on the alert to 
help others; therefore, dear diary, disappointments had 
their place on your pages. 

May God bless my Sunshine friends whoever they may be. 
I received a gift through the mail saying, “Do not open 
until March twentieth—Sunshine Friends.” Perhaps some 
day my curiosity will overwhelm me. 

And now, little book, Jewel has asked for the last page 
to be reserved for her in which to write “finis” to the com¬ 
pletion of the home. 


A BORN NURSE 


137 


# Now I will close these pages recording events of five years 
with these three tiny bows of ribbons fastened to this page 
to help express my feeling for all my friends, and your new 
owner, little Diary. 

This pure White bow is a token of Appreciation for the 
purity of my friends. 

The Blue one I fasten here, is a token of my Love for you. 

This Royal Purple, I dedicate to Loyalty. Forever may 
it reign. 

Goodby, dear Diary. 

Your friend, 

Katherine ( Kassie ) 

I must put the Diary in my pocket so as not to forget to 
give it to Jewel. 

As Kassie entered the living room her friends had pre¬ 
ceded her, and Jewel said, “Kassie, we are just making 
ourselves at home here among all these friendly people.” 

“Wonderful!” Kassie said, smiling. “Jewel, I am sure 
you remember some of them.” 

“Yes, there are several familiar faces—and we have been 
introducing ourselves, just enjoying it all to the utmost.” 

“Miss Mary is admiring the beautiful Queen Ann lace 
table spread Mrs. Smith is making. I think she has already 
asked her if she would name a price for it.” 

“Mrs. Smith does lots of crochet work to sell. I don’t 
know what her prices are for it; but I do know she has more 
orders than she can fill. As you know, we try to keep such 
activities within a specified time limit.” 

“Yes, I know the value of rest periods, which are a very 
important factor in the home.” 

“Now, the lady who is crocheting the fancy apron, told 
me she specialized in that class of work, and has made over 
fifty of them; I have agreed to purchase one to wear while 
serving breakfast to Miss Mary—she appreciates pretty 
things so very much.” 

“And here, just look at the pillowcases,” Kassie said. 

“Oh! absolutely a rose garden!” Jewel exclaimed. 

“Yes,” Kassie continued, “the pattern is called the Rose 


138 


A BORN NURSE 


. . . and, as you see, they actually have rows of petals in 
color, the leaves are green and, of course, a white back¬ 
ground to accentuate their beauty. She asks $7.50 a pair for 
them. I have purchased several pairs for gifts, reserving one 
pair of that design in a variegated shade of pink for my 
own bedroom. I think every new color that is produced to 
be still prettier.” 

“Kassie, what do they do with the money earned from 
their work?” 

“Just whatever they wish. Some of them deposit their 
money in bank savings accounts, while others love to buy 
pretty clothes; but all the patients are neatly attired as 
you see. 

“This lady crochets center pieces, the one there knits 
sweaters for infants. And here is tatting so very pretty 
that it makes your heart beat a little faster; I suppose she 
has made miles of it. And now here is the lady who em¬ 
broiders, and this beautiful design in the luncheon cloth is 
of the old-fashioned girl. 

“Just go right on with your exclamations of Oh’s and ah’s, 
for they fit in perfectly with the exquisite drawn work on 
this dresser scarf. 

“Permit me now to call your attention to a picture that 
I love very dearly, the words having been embroidered by 
one of the ladies in the home. 

“I thought I had made a survey of all the things in the 
room, but this escaped my attention—is it a motto or a wise 
saying of someone? Whether it be the first or the latter, it is 
very impressive: 

“ ‘Friendship is the watchword of the age.’ 

“ ‘Touch the chord of sympathy and it vibrates around 
the world.’ 

Jewel slowly read the words, then she said, “Kassie, I 
really like this: ‘Every man should have a cemetery lot, 
large enough in which to bury the faults of his friends.’ 
Those were the words—” 

Kassie interrupted, “I wonder why people have put such 
beautiful thoughts into words, unless they were uttered to 
inspire others through the ages.” 


A BORN NURSE 


139 


I know you saw the art work in this picture,” Kassie 
said. 

“Yes, that greeted me as I came into the room this 
morning,—first thing I noticed; it is a lovely picture of an 
old-fashioned garden surrounding the words, ‘Home, Sweet 
Home.’ The tatting around the material was made by one 
of the ladies right here in the room.” 

“That is right. I bought the frame and glass for the pic¬ 
ture to prevent it from getting soiled or faded.” 

“My dear, we could go on indefinitely viewing and dis¬ 
cussing such evidence of skill, but my office attendant in¬ 
formed me we are about ready for the surprise party for 
the ladies this afternoon, and, as the young people with 
their musical instruments are arriving I believe we will have 
to repair to the Chapel to enable all of us to be accommo¬ 
dated. The maids will please assist in seating the patients.” 

“Kassie, you didn’t tell me there was going to be com¬ 
pany—” 

“No, Jewel, it was to be kept secret, because you would 
want to take time to primp up, which would be a waste of 
time as you are already dressed neat enough for the occa¬ 
sion.” 

“But, Kassie, I could have spent a bit of time to pin up a 
wisp of stray locks. Nevertheless, I anticipate the pleasure 
of listening to the music, and meeting some of the smiling 
young people.” 

“This group of youths has been very faithful in bringing 
us many hours of joy. The sacred music and singing are 
heard in the Chapel, while community singing is held in 
the living room. Sometimes we have singers to give us the 
pleasure of a request program, which is presented in the 
living room. 

“During the Yuletide season many groups entertain us 
with Christmas Carols, then also a host of friends visit the 
old folk here.” 

“Kassie, all this you dreamed of accomplishing by pro¬ 
viding a nursing home, did you not?” 

“Yes, indeed. And more!” 


140 


A BORN NURSE 


“Do you have any regrets now that your efforts have been 
crowned with success?” Jewel asked. 

“Yes, one,” Kassie replied. 

“What was it, may I ask?” 

“I regret that ever a thought entered my mind to re¬ 
linquish the work that I was born to do. You remember this 
afternoon the duet the two girls sang, “When the Mists 
Have Rolled Away?” 

“Yes, Kassie, that explains things, to some extent.” 

“Jewel, the room you furnished is beautiful and I have 
been anxiously waiting to show it to you. Let us go up this 
stairway to it.” 

“Oh! how lovely! The furniture is exactly what I ordered 
—beautiful mahogany finish, bed with a pink innerspring 
mattress, dresser with the latest style mirror, night table 
with lamp, lounge chair, pink linen, sky blue walls! And, 
my dear, I saw the motto on the wall first of all. You placed 
it there of your own accord . . . Why?” 

“Jewel, I keenly felt that it applied to you. It is also the 
one I have tried to abide by in the rearing of my own chil¬ 
dren. It is my favorite of them all.” 

“I express to you my heartfelt thanks, because it is also my 
favorite: 

“Do unto others as ye would have them do unto you. }) 

“Also, the beautiful vase of gladioli to welcome me—I 
am sure you ordered them since I came this morning for 
this very occasion, and I appreciate it. I gave all of it in 
memory of my Father,” Jewel said with reverence. 

“Jewel, I know you have spared no expense in providing 
the furnishings and the wall decorations, and from the 
depths of my heart I thank you. I am sure the occupant, 
whoever he or she may be, will be more than pleased with 
this room.” 

“And now, Kassie, may I say that this has been one of 
the most exciting days of my life? Five years ago, all of this 
seemed so far away, obscured by the mists of uncertainty; 
the idea of the home remained in an embroyonic stage a 


A BORN NURSE 


141 


long time because of the lack of sufficient funds for you to 
undertake such an enormous task. 

“Well, Kassie the shadows of the evening are creeping 
across the sky, and Miss Mary has been so very kind to let 
me have practically every minute of the day to spend with 
you, and to explore the grounds and the home. Now I must 
go and give her my attention. She has asked me to be ready 
in the morning to continue our journey homeward. Her 
home is to be opened by the first of the month for the re¬ 
ception of some important friends, and there will be many 
things requiring attention. 

“Certainly, there is a housekeeper, but she waits for in¬ 
structions from Miss Mary regarding how many rooms 
will be needed for her guests. 

“When the house is closed, all the linen is stripped from 
the furniture, and mattresses are covered with dust-proof 
material. The house has a rather ghostly appearance. All 
the beautiful silverware is placed in a safe, and floor cover¬ 
ings treated for moths. Yet all that is quickly forgotten after 
we get out of the house and head for the great open spaces. 
July will find us breathing the cool, invigorating mountain 
air of North Carolina. I am living a wonderful life, travel¬ 
ing over the country.” 

“Jewel, I am happy for you. I will see you in the morn¬ 
ing. Good night, my dear, and may you sleep well.” 

Tonight, dear Diary, I will write the last page, as I re¬ 
quested that I might, five years ago. As I drove away from 
Sunny Brook nursing home, the picture of The Girl who 
could not forget the work she was born to do was indelibly 
imprinted on my mind! 

Yes, Kassie was smiling . . . standing there in her crisp, 
white uniform and beloved cap. As good-bys were said eyes 
began to be wet with tears. 

Yes, dear Diary, I was that Girl! 

I wonder, little book, just how much the century-old 
church played in the part of her life: To hear the bell as 


142 


A BORN NURSE 


it rang out inviting everyone to worship: The steeple point¬ 
ing heavenward: The old organ and the choir! 

The three ribbons are well placed . . . Here I give my 
pledge to all three of them again and again. 


Good Night, dear Diary. 

Jewel. 


V 

















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